001good evening and welcome to the Pittsford Board of Education meeting please stand for the Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all could I get a motion to approve the agenda thank you and a second thank you any edits all in favor any opposed that carries thank you next could I get an approval of the minutes from the May 9th meeting oh nope I'm sorry backing it up got a public hearing for uh volunteer first responder property tax exemption okay so this is a procedural item in terms of a resolution that the board approved previously at the February 8th 2022 meeting the board voted to opt in and then there were some
002subtle changes in the language so we felt after legal review that it would be best to bring a new resolution as part of that process the board of education is to have as part of the meeting of public hearing first and then subsequent approval at the next Board of Education meeting so again just as a reminder there are two components to this tax break one is for volunteers who are certified by their fire or ambulance department as having at least two years of volunteer experience they're entitled to a 10 assessment reduction the second component grants a lifetime 10 assessment reduction to volunteers who are certified to have been volunteers for more than 20 years in that exemption's permanent the good news is previously when you looked at the estimates they were estimates based on last
003year's amount there was about 2.0 2.04 million in actual assessment reductions this assessment reduction works like a clergy exemption which is different so it's actually a tax shift and that resulted in about 71 71 000 being shifted throughout the other towns and taxpayers around the district so we have some hard numbers in terms of what the impact is um and at this point we just um you know conclude with these brief statements and um pause for any questions that anyone else would have uh in terms of the exemption any questions okay thank you uh with that we'll move on to our principal's report from Miss Heather Clayton good evening thank you um I want to start by thanking the board and central office team for all your support to a person at this table you've
004supported us throughout this year we really appreciate it and also to Rich Albano the assistant principal at Mendon Center thank you for your partnership and teamwork and um in this together appreciate it very much I'm the person that gets up here with bragging rights but I'm really speaking on behalf of all of our students and staff reflecting on a great year together so want to share some highlights with all of you so this was our welcome back photo in September every year we begin with some sort of Mantra um to get the year started and this was I am me this year and our Focus this year has really been around student voice and supportive relationships and when we talk about student voice we're talking about the expertise the kids bring their ideas their perspectives
005their opinions their questions and everything they have to offer Us in the classrooms in hand hand in hand with that is um our responsibility as adults to listen to our students voice and that really lends itself to our supportive relationships so the two are very inextricably linked and you'll see that throughout our examples this evening so our very first superintendence day we focused a lot on student voice but we also talked a lot about the role of the staff in terms of listening and um it's one thing to encourage our kids to amplify their voices in the classroom but there's only value added to that if we learn to listen and empathize and hear what our students are saying so this was our anchor text for the year I am me a book about authenticity
006and that was really a springboard for writing tasks throughout the year um different classroom activities it was our Mantra on the announcements every Friday morning we would begin with who are you and all the kids would scream I am me we've done that every Friday for the year our last one this week the teachers are ever so grateful for that because the kids get a little um pumped about that but here's just one student's poem at the beginning of the year I am me I'm chatty I'm creative I am messy I am kind I am me so you'll see lots of this throughout the year hanging on kids lockers in morning meeting in classroom circles and lots of different ways it has been threaded throughout everything we're doing and this was actually an end of
007year writing piece from a kindergarten student they were still building on the ime but after a year of writing Workshop book making they're learning their figure spaces their capital letter their punctuation and complete sentences um I'm Jara I have brown skin I have a brother I like playing outside I don't like insects I can do a handstand I can't ride my bike yet I want to be a mom I am kind I am me so it's really fun to see how they've grown as writers throughout the year and how our beginning of the year slogan has kind of really played a role in everything we've done this year student voice is also really present in the classroom whether we're writing and writing Workshop or it's in content area studies so this was just a fun
008first grade example student nonfiction I like cheetahs they eat gazelles they live in Africa love the spelling there and just another quick right example of choice about music music is great music has Rhythm and beat beat is a heart it is strong and steady Rhythm goes out of control in all different notes you can make a song in the shower the water taps on your shower cap listen to the crickets chirping at night you can be a musician we also talked a lot as a staff about how there's a big correlation between the amount of talk students do in the classroom and their academic achievement so we also have spent a great deal of time around thinking routines and discussion protocols this year a thinking routine is just a predictable scaffolded sequence of things students
009go through it kind of trains their brain to think but you can use thinking routines in any content area and the children have become really well versed with that some that the kids use regularly are notice and wonder so spending time looking at a prompt or a photograph or an artifact or a video clip or in just talking about what they're noticing what they're wondering in conjunction with what they've noticed so just routines for thinking and talking all throughout the day this year we also did a book study with our faculty around quick rights so quick rights are short bursts of writing about three to five minutes they're non-evaluative they're timed but they're just low stakes on demand writing opportunities and the reason we really engaged in learning about this as a staff is we
010wanted to build our students stamina as writers we also wanted them used to the idea of putting pencil to paper and composing writing because very often we find kids to be reluctant to write as early as first second grade we're seeing it so through these regular quick rate routines we've really seen our students grow in terms of their stamina their willingness to take risks their willingness to try our kids have told us a lot about themselves a lot about their learning in their quick rights so our book study group actually asked all the kids to do a quick write about what quick rights are and that's what you see in the slide but the kids sharing things like quick rates are short writing times you can do brain dumps three to five minutes best you
011can spell you can pick a topic thoughts on paper it's brain work you can do lists or sentences it is fun Plus in a quick rate you don't need to know every single word you just need to write so let your pen follow you to whatever you are writing that means you can be you we also teach the kids that writing is thinking so a lot of times you think of writing as a tool for communication but it really is a vehicle for thinking on the page and we've spent a lot of time working with the students on that at all grade levels and I love this as evidenced in the second graders hopes and dreams for the year I'm going to write more in second grade by thinking more so it's always fun when
012you see them making those connections some other ways that student voice has been alive and well we have our annual art show this was part of our men and center open house and we feature two pieces of artwork from every student so there was about 1500 pieces of Art and thank you to our PTSA we had volunteers come help us to set it up and PTSA purchased the dividers for us but it's a real celebration for the kids they choose the pieces they want in the art show they share why they want them there and then we left the show up for the following day at school so the kids could tour the art show with their classroom teachers and that the kids all had a hand in taking everything down and and putting it
013away so that was really wonderful to have their help this year too um we got back to our International day that we have every other year and this is planned and done with our PTSA and it's about a year of planning um the kids take part in demonstrations workshops there's a cultural show there's hallway tables and we have grandparents come parents come and it's really just our men and Center communities sharing their cultural heritage and traditions with all of the students and kids did a lot of written reflection following this and I love that little quick right in the corner because that was one of our parents dancing and she actually looked exactly like that on the stage with her gold pants but it was just a lot of fun and the kids were invited
014to wear costumes for the day and it was just a real celebration but then taking the time to read all the students writing in response to the day that just made it even more powerful kids enjoyed everything from the passports they were given to the hallways to guest speakers to the performances and everybody was able to see themselves that day in some special way so that was great to be able to bring that back and I saw you last April so since then we've also had one of our stem days which runs opposite years from our International Day that's a fourth and fifth grade day also run by our parents and kids are just engaged in workshops that they select and our parents are there sharing their expertise so we had a surgeon actually make
015pans of red Jello with little bones and eyeballs in them and then the kids had their surgical hats with their names on them and tweezers and they had to like dissect the bones and eyeballs out of the jello but got a sense for what that was all about in the teamwork then they ate the jello at the end which I really wasn't privy to that part of it until I came unseen but they had a great time so we had the robotics Club come from high school they were building viruses we had a grandparent with a telescope the kids could see the moon just really great opportunities and just like our International day it's our families that are bringing their intelligent expertise and stories to these events it's not we're not having to hire extra
016folks this is just what we have at our school and we are just so lucky for the for the Partnerships and for that yes the kids loved it it was such a mess it was great um speaking of student Voice last year when I was here I spoke to you about a student who had an idea for writing messages of peace to the Ukraine and the kids did make their postcards and write them we did send them over they were put into care packages Rock Maiden took a role in getting the postcards from our kids and sending them over but we still hear back from places where our postcards have been and how they've touched lives and it was a lot of fun to see the kids artwork and writing come to fruition some of
017their pieces are on display here and we just included some of their postcards in the presentation so you could see some of their heartfelt writing why is student voice so important to us what the kids have to say makes a difference in their learning so it brings authenticity and relevance to what they're learning it brings value to classroom conversations it gives us a window into our students stories and it just makes our jobs that much more engaging listening to what our kids have to say we find our kids are just doing a lot more writing and communicating and thinking through their writing just today we had field day and a student became upset with another student and took some time to reflect on that and she just started writing a quick write which was really
018like an airing of grievances about this other child but it was a brilliant piece of writing it had voice it was engaging and it was cool that she had that as a tool to kind of reflect on the situation so right Rich it was good um also talking about our words make a difference for our kids and their relationships so some of the phrases that we've spent time talking about and using are things like tell me more let's think about what that means for you and others around you I care about you I care about you here's how I was impacted by the choice that was made our second superintendent's day we've had our staff writing at every faculty meeting and superintendency they've been great Sports about it and when we did our superintendent's day
019in the spring we asked every staff member to pick a child that challenged them and then they had to write um from first person perspective from that child they had to write some free verse poetry from the perspective of the child so it was really powerful them to take on the Persona of the child that challenged them the most step into the child's shoes thinking about what their day is like write about it and then talk about it and it was a really powerful experience for our staff we had tears we had laughter it was just a really great way to kind of put ourselves in the kids shoes hear hear their stories and reflect on who they are as people um so it's just been a wonderful year since I've seen you and we've
020had a lot of fun with the kids a lot of focus on learning but also really making those connections and enjoying Elementary School we're just very fortunate so just to close here some of our friends at the end and the little one in the top she moved here from Japan this year speaking no English she's growing Leaps and Bounds she's a writer she's a reader she's got lots of friends she's conversing in the classroom and we just learned she's going back to Japan which is just breaking all of our hearts but she had such a brilliant year here and has grown so much and it just speaks to the community of Learners that we have so thanks for the opportunity to just share some highlights of what we've been up to at Menon Center and
021thank you again for your support any questions anybody have any questions all good well thank you very much we did enjoy our tour and visit with the staff it was a lot of fun so thank you heather come over anytime thanks Heather yeah thanks Rich thank you okay now can I get a motion on approval of the minutes from May 9th yourself thanks Sarah any edits all in favor any opposed that motion carries moving on to Board of Education report of the Monroe County School Board Association meetings are done for the year but we'll move on to out at oversight Renee hi everyone so we met on May 31st the audit committee we met with Tom Zuber from mengil Metzger and Barr in company and they explained the annual audit process and highlighted key areas
022of focus new this year the Auditors will spend additional time reviewing the federal coveted money that was provided to the district additionally Mr Zuber reviewed fund balance and Reserve fund amounts Mr vespie and Miss reester also prepared a summary memo regarding estimated fund balance and reserves for the board cons for our consideration this evening our District's internal auditor Kathy Barrett from freed maxit reviewed a risk assessment report and also provided an internal audit report the risk assessment process identified that the district should consider a payroll review for next year which I'm sure that's something we'll talk about more in in some detail the internal audit report found some areas of purchasing that could be improved such as obtaining more quotes and conducting some additional requests for proposals for Professional Services some of the recommendations for
023purchase purchasing have already been implemented and Jenny winter the district's claim auditor also provided a report she discussed that the audit period from July through December and in that time there were about 92 warrants issued but with no fraud identified in addition we briefly discussed the idea of providing the athletic department with some assistance due to the challenges associated with last minute purchasing and the scheduling of regional and state competitions Mr vespie also discussed strategies to enhance the security of the district's Financial software Miss riester discussed the need to improve I'm sorry to approve a process for uh but sorry it's been a long day um Miss Reeser discussed the need to approve a process that can be used to guide all state and federal grants this guidance is now in place for the district
024and finally the committee reviewed the possible 2023-24 meeting dates and discuss membership recommendations including that of the chair position which if you will have me I am more than happy to take over again and that is all thank you for that very detailed report anybody have any questions okay we have a number of dates to remember June 19th schools will be closed for Juneteenth observance the 24th of June is the Sutherland and men in high school graduation settlement is at 10 o'clock at the RIT Gordon field house and Mendon is at 2 pm at the RIT Gordon Field House July 11th will be the summer workshop and also on July 11th is our next regularly scheduled meeting at 5 pm and on the 12th will be the second day of the workshop next if I
025could get a acceptance of the record of the May 16th budget vote and School Board elections like get a motion for that you thank you Robin thank you David um any comments all those in favor the opposed thank you that motion carries next if I could get an approval of the superintendent's contract a motion for that so thank you sir thank you Renee uh of those in favor any opposed that motion carries thank you next we'll move on to the financial report Mr vespie uh yes for your consideration is the acceptance of the treasures report again as you can see as part of the document interest earnings County sales tax and then the reception of some additional state aid including BOCES Aid has really put us in a positive financial situation in terms of Revenue
026on the school lunch front again we're going to finish the year very strong and large in part to not having all of our positions filled so we're going to repurpose some of those funds to get ahead in terms of the replacement of equipment that concludes the report thank you can I get a motion for an acceptance to the treasurer's report thank you Jeff q a any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries okay next is the for your consideration is the resolution for assistant Treasurer this is something that took place with new Staffing and that is uh you know just in case we we need someone as a backup to sign checks we have that in place we need to do it now just in case but obviously this will be part
027of the reorgan reorg meeting as well may I get an approval of the resolution for assistant District treasurer you think it did thank you Emily any questions all those in favor any opposed great that motion carries okay next is the approval for the risk assessment report that was previously reviewed motion for the approval of the risk assessment report thank you Renee thank you Sarah any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries all right next for your consideration is the internal audit report again as previously discussed thank you in a motion to approve the internal audit report thank you Robin thanks chef uh any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries all right next for consideration is the federal funds procedural manual that uh Miss reister put together and was
028reviewed previously can I please get a motion to approve the federal fund's procedural manual Sarah thank you Renee any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries okay next for your consideration is the auction auctioning of buses as outlined during the budget review process the only note that I'll make uh you know the note to this is that we may not auction these all at once pending delivery you know shipment and delivery of the new buses but we are going to designate it now so that way you know once those new buses come in then we can put those in auction if if that's the better way to go may please get a motion to auction the buses thanks Jeff thanks Emily any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries
029okay next is the uh for your consideration is the transportation contract for Transpo may please get a motion to approve the transpo Transportation contract thanks Dave thanks Renee any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries and again for your consideration the contract that we have when when Roland BOCES for the upcoming school year they please get a motion to approve the Monroe BOCES One Transportation contract thank you Sarah thank you Emily any questions all those in favor and he upload opposed that motion carries okay next for your consideration is the budget line Amendment so due to the additional revenues that we received we'd like to spend some additional funds on the replacement of some of our technology and if you recall that in the past we have panel displays and this helps
030with that replacement plan so I think this is a good use of of Revenue and to get ahead in our technology replacement plan it also includes some desktop computers and then some um some enhancements in our lgis so that's there's this is actual Amendment to the budget from a revenue standpoint increasing the expense to be able to uh to buy some additional technology equipment okay please get a motion to approve the budget line item Amendment request thank you Robin thank you Emily any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries okay next for your consideration is an adjustment in the unemployment Reserve as you recall there were additional funds that were placed in the reserve because of the uncertainty associated with covid from an audit standpoint we can't we can no longer justify
031holding the money in that particular Reserve so the appropriate manner is to transfer those funds into the fund balance and then redistribute as we get to the year end so that's also part of the next um you know action that you'll see in terms of an up to recommended amount so we've been able this year to make two adjustments for reserves uh you know that after they were you know kind of audited you're going to make adjustments and you're going to put those funds into the proper reserve and not over Reserve in one particular area so that's what this is about may I please get a motion for the unemployment Reserve thank you Jeff thank you Renee any questions on that all those in favor any opposed that motion carries okay for your consideration is
032the internal risk assessment corrective action plan is outlined earlier in the uh AOC report may I please get a motion on the 2122 internal audit risk assessment and corrective action plan come out thank you and uh any questions all those in favor any opposed that motion carries okay next for your consideration is the fund balance management report this is a memo that's required to have the board take action prior to June 30th with the allocation of funds so there's three funding sources that we have this year we normally perform very well fiscally on the expense side so we have some additional funds at the end of the budget on the expense side but all year I've been reporting interest earnings County sales tax right and then an increase in spending in BOCES which generated more
033Aid so on the you know on the revenue side additionally this year we're making some of these transfers through Reserve funds so when you combine those three sources we now have to give a preliminary idea in terms of how we're going to allocate those funds as of June 30th so this is a very detailed memo that highlights what our recommendations are as and granting an up to amount certainly um you know these don't these are not final and they will be final pending audit you know to note this year is a new Reserve that was recently approved and that was the the facilities reserve for a swimming pool so we've designated a dollar amount and that reserved proportionally to the work that we have in the capital project so that's kind of new this year
034the rest of this the information that's here it's very detailed information that outlines every Reserve we had have when it's when it was created and what the intended purpose is so I think it gives the board a very detailed look at what those estimates are and this is something that we talked about at our AOC meeting too that it does require some additional conversation for the public record and there is additional scrutiny and comptroller's audits that the board is on board in terms of fund balance policy uh the allocation of reserves and a full understanding of why we do what we do when it comes to these recommendations so we cover it here then we also cover it when we uh review the final audit and we you know we really talk about a little
035bit during budget as well in terms of the appropriate fund balance so it's just you know for procedural purposes it's good to note this for the minutes okay I'll make the motion that we pass the fund balance management and can I get a second thank you Sarah all those in favor any opposed that motion carries the rest is on the consent agenda thank you Mr vespie you are done for three meetings we'll move on to the human resource report Mr Clark good evening first year consideration is the professional staff report see 14 certificated staff appointments two certificated staff regular substitute to probationary appointments one certificated staff full-time to part-time appointment for certificated staff part-time to probationary appointments two school psychologist intern appointments two SRP to auxiliary appointments two certificated staff resignations for retirement one SRP
036resignation for retirement one certificated staff resignation and five SRP resignations may I please get a motion on the professional staff report thanks Jeff any discussion all those in favor Penny opposed that motion carries thank you next for your consideration is the support staff report we have three clerical appointments two clerical resignations two Transportation appointments One Transportation resignation One Transportation resignation for retirement 10 custodial maintenance appointments two custodial maintenance resignations one custodial maintenance retirement One Food Service resignation and one food service resignation for retirement may I please get a motion for the support staff report thank you Renee thanks Dave any discussion all those in favor any opposed that motion carries thank you and finally for your consideration is the updated handbook for our food service worker unit this three-year agreement addresses compression associated with increased
037minimum wage and hopefully will help with our Recruitment and Retention efforts may I please get a motion for approval of the Pittsford School food service department handbook thanks Emily and thanks Sarah uh any discussion all those in favor any opposed that motion carries thank you next up is Miss Woods in the special education report evening all cpsc and CSE recommendations are on the consent agenda thank you next up Mr Pirro and the superintendent's report there is not any need for an executive session this evening you have in front of you policy recommendation for a first reading number 8450 home hospital and institutional instruction or homebound instruction not sure if there's any questions at the at the time good hey so I want to just thank Heather and Rich again that was a remarkable presentation and
038it really highlights the type of year I think we've all felt I certainly have uh seen in my um many walks around the buildings there's a livelihood there's we're back to normal uh and almost every way shape or form uh today we had our Sutherland senior bash we had our Mendon senior Bash we had our seniors going to the five elementary schools that they graduated from and their caps and gowns we had them on the fields playing with kids and we've had field days for our elementary we've had all of our year-end celebrations that we normally had before covid so it's just a really nice feeling to see things back back to where they where they used to be and where they should be the other other thing I'd like to highlight that's that's kind
039of behind the scenes that we've really never talked about Pittsford has typically between a 98 and 100 graduation rate and um it's hard I think for an outside person to even think about what that what that means and I attended several meetings at Sutherland and Mendon this year which they had had many meetings before with students that are in Jeopardy of not graduating which means a team of of people meet with the parents in the student share with them why they're in Jeopardy for not graduating what they have to do to graduate made me also think about Heather's PowerPoint where she talked about the value of student voice and understanding your hardest child and what their lives are like I couldn't be prouder of our staff for how creative and flexible they were in meeting
040the requirements for students to graduate so what does that mean that means having a staff member drive to their house pick them up sometimes it's in the city of Rochester sometimes it's in Pittsford it means utilizing our tutoring center it means our teachers staying late coming early giving up their free time to make sure that students are in there getting their instruction and assignments handed in it doesn't happen in other places like this so hats off to our staff for how hard they work and how how much they genuinely care for every student and understanding the significance of what a diploma from Pittsburgh means and helping our students get there so some real good success stories stories from that that I've been able to watch so hats off to to our staff for leaving literally
041no no student left behind um the other thing I'd like to mention we have kind of a sad note that I'd like to say a few words uh Ted is leaving us he's retiring from the Board of Education and I have a few prepared comments Todd and I froze out so I'm gonna read from this Ted has committed nearly four decades to serving the Brighton fire department and another decade serving on our school serving our school Community as a board member board vice president and board president the common theme is in his Devotion to service and helping those around him in both of these capacities regardless of the hour of the day Ted is always on call he is certainly my first call when we lose power during a storm have a flood in a
042school have a downed tree from windstorms or when I have questions about road conditions for snow days essentially any natural disaster Ted is always there and he always answers the call and he's able to respond he's able to provide exceptional guidance he's able to expedite responders rather whether it be RG e to get power back in our schools whether it be for Traffic Control or responding to accidents you name it he's always there Ted has shown up to our 7 A.M board tours after having to get up at two in the morning for an emergency and he never complains I have always likened his position as a board president to that of being the executive director for the fire department in Brighton as he's putting out fires on both fronts he handles both jobs the
043same with a sense of calm expertise trying to get to the root of the problem and making sure whatever happened that it doesn't happen again the best part about Ted is that he is all in in whatever Endeavor he takes on on the board of education Ted made it his priority to meet students to visit classrooms to attend tours to serve on County committees negotiation committees to ask questions to provide feedback to speak on opening day to about a thousand staff members to attend school functions to assist with compliance issues to pursue new and relevant policies and so much more what I appreciate the most from Ted is his highest level of character and his sense of integrity it was Ted that actually LED our Board of Education in our central office team through a
044process to hold all accountable for acceptable behavior starting with board members this led to a code of ethics policy that everyone agreed to Ted is open to all feedback from stakeholders and he will listen he will process he will reflect and then he will offer an opinion and he'll share that opinion in a way that's respectful he is modeled for our community how to disagree respectfully as well as the concept of compromise Ted I thank you for your years of service you've made all of those around you better humans I thank you for your strong leadership and student student focused heart and student focused mind you will be missed by all especially by me beyond the words I can share tonight thank you Ted [Applause] that will be it that was a lot thank you
045um with that we'll move on to consent agenda can I get a emotion on the consent agenda thank you Dave thank you Sarah and all those in favor any opposed that motion carries any old business and under new business I know Robin you have something yes Ted on behalf of the Pittsford Schools Board of Education members and with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness we congratulate you on your retirement from the school board Ted oresti served our schools diligently and with purpose for the last nine years and more recently he led as the president of our board along the way he participated on many pcsd and mixed bug committees among them the audit oversight pcsd negotiating team Labor Relations and information Exchange we would like to share with you words that describe our observations about
046our board president Ted in general Ted your board colleagues submitted some words that they felt best described you and in no particular order those words were organized thoughtful generous forthright study principled diligent focused effective dedicated resilient moral empathetic loyal and compassionate said we're thankful that our community elected you three times to serve with us and former board members let's also remember that Ted is a son a husband a father to three daughters a businessman and a community volunteer we acknowledge the many hours spent away from your family and thank you for I and we thank them for sharing you with our community please accept this small token of our appreciation We Salute You Ted and thank you for your service oh thank you all very much um also under new business I have a few
047thoughts that I'd like to share this evening as this is my final meeting as president and member of the Board of Education I wanted to take this opportunity to make a few remarks and say a few thank yous about my past nine years on the board of education there is no one project or issue that was the big one they were all important to me sure there were highs and there were lows but that's to be expected I'm incredibly proud of the accomplishments of the entire pcsd Community I'm convinced that there is nothing that can't be achieved when we all work collaboratively together our community needs to stay strong in its convictions to put children first and remain apolitical if we all meet in the middle great things can happen we need to continue to
048collaborate with all stakeholders I encourage those in the community that want to bring in their feedback to the board of education for consideration to do so with an understanding that there are always many perspectives to an issue the board of education has the obligation to consider all of them and do what is best for the kids a number of thank yous and bear with me but they're important Deb Carpenter Cindy Coleman and Ronnie Walker they have all provided guidance over the years and made sure I was on the right track I really appreciate it thank you to superintendent Pirro and the entire central office team you are leaders in your respective disciplines and our community could not be more fortunate to have you leading the way thank you to the entire team of staff that
049carries out the division Mission and values of our district every day with dedication empathy and passion thank you to the pdta pdaa and PTSA leadership for always working in the best interests of students thank you to our community for giving me the opportunity to serve and represent you it has truly been an honor thank you to my family without whose support I could not have served these past nine years a lot of sacrifices were made and I appreciate their valuing my board service finally to my fellow Boe members passed and especially present I am humbled to have served alongside you I applaud each of you for your selfless service professionalism and commitment to the pcsd stay centered on the mission listen to all but never stray from our true north the kids and you won't
050go wrong thank you all very much [Applause] okay next we move on to public comments I remind you all that we ask you to state your name and your address when you begin speaking remember that we have young listeners watching and learning and we ask you to keep your comments to three minutes or less and start um hi all good evening my name is Shruti Basim I live in two Sunrise Hill in Pittsburgh I'm here today just to make a comment about our dire need for air conditioning in our school school district and all of our buildings um with you know the recent warming Trends in our schools there are more weeks now than ever before where we actually need some form of cooling and some sort of air filtration I know that has come
051up previously in different ways but I think given our recent air quality issues and just overall warming Trends the kids have been coming home very complaining with how warm and really untenable the day is and I mean it's worth pointing out that recently there's been an increasing body of literature we can point to and I can send links to that points to the detriments in learning with even an increase in any in heat and and there's just Google heat and learning and you'll see there's about a one percent decrease in learning for each degree the temperature has gone up in a year and this has been controlled for all um you know all elements so I think this is going to become a big issue across the country and especially in you know where infrastructure
052needs to be updated and we do need to think about what we need to do for um for our systems and infrastructure and HVAC um again you know it's hard to notice I think we have some sort of AC on right now it's a really mild day imagine how the kids must feel in a very small room all day in all of our buildings so just food for thought and you know um again the pandemic has taught us that we need to be prepared for various things and I know that the air filtration has come up through the pandemic and we really need to think about more innovative ways to update our infrastructure and really you know be guided by ayara North Star which is our children and their ability to learn and I think
053that this these buildings are creating a detriment to that learning um you know learning environment thank you thank you very much I would just offer to we have a number of speakers that are going to be speaking on this topic if we could try and avoid repetitiveness but certainly we welcome you to make your points next up is Meredith Graham thank you for taking my comment I'm Meredith Graham I live at 21 Northfield gate okay so I'm also here to talk about air quality and air conditioning and I know that you all know how it affects illness spread and absenteeism and how reducing CO2 levels and keeping a reasonable ambient temperature increases performance but I'd like to just consider what are we doing right now to make plans in place to add air conditioning or
054add increased air filtration I don't believe there's anything at all in place to add air conditioning or to to go beyond what's required by the minimum standard for air condition or air quality I'd like you to consider your home when you go home tonight do you have air conditioning at your home when you are at your office wherever you work is there air conditioning at that office when you have to focus on something and really learn something or come up with a report or whatever you're doing do you have air conditioning in that condition because I bet you do and our kids don't they're on the third floor at Sutherlin they're on the second floor at Mendon and Barker and they are not with air conditioning they open the window and then if they have
055allergies they suffer even more if you've ever been in the room at Barker Road Middle School when students are finding out what room their final exam will be in now this usually is quite a substantial portion of their grade they're really worried about doing well on that test and most every single time it's happening in June it's happening right at the end of the school year if you've ever been in that room when it's announced what room their exam is going to be in you will hear a resounding yay or a very depressed no every single time because if it's in an air-conditioned room like the language area which unfortunately isn't going to be air-conditioned anymore because once the capital Improvement project happens that's being taken away so if you've ever been there you will
056know where those kids are going to take their final based on the reaction from those kids when that's announced if it's announced that they're going to be on the second floor at Barker for their exam they are sad they know they're going to have to work extra hard and they're going to sweat through the whole two hours we are literally watching our world burn down around us this past week you can't open the windows when air quality is so poor and if we are knowingly doing nothing to prepare for the different world that we are going to experience due to climate change I think that amounts to a crime against our current and future students I don't believe we can continue to just kick the can down the road and hope someone else does something
057in the future we need strong leadership to bring our community into the future with the resources that are essential for learning which includes air conditioning and improvements to air quality thank you thank you next up is Angela Wilkes hi my name is Angela Wilkes I live at 14 Thomas Grove it's actually my daughter's 13th birthday today but it was more important for to her for me to be here talking to you right now she's a student at Barker and she said it's so hot and uncomfortable there and that's why we need to start planning now for installing air conditioning and all the Pittsburgh schools the largest school district outside of Buffalo Williamsville passed a capital project last year to install air conditioning all of its schools without raising taxes to get it passed Williamsville School
058District cited studies that show the climate in Western New York has been steadily getting warmer during this current school year there have been 18 days there are over 80 degrees including a few days over 90 and almost two months of the school year has been over 75 degrees in addition there have been 76 days over 70 degrees that's over 43 percent of the school year today is a 70 degree day and you have the air conditioning out in this building the argument that we only need air conditioning a few days in our area no longer holds true older buildings retained heat so even if the outdoor temperature is mild it's still very hot inside the schools the Williamsville school district is also upgrading their Heating and air ventilation systems to increase air filtration to the
059Merv 13 at the same time as adding air conditioning upgrading to a Merv 13 rated filter can improve the system's efficacy and removing viruses from circulated air they are using this as an opportunity to make their heating systems more efficient and improving the air quality in their abilities as we saw last week because of the wildfires in Canada affecting our air quality it's not only safe to just open windows and use fans to cool students poor air quality can negatively affect students and staff who have asthma or any other upper respiratory illness or conditions not to mention those who have allergies opening classroom Windows even if the air quality is good is still isn't sufficient because the open outside air doesn't reach the hallways and other interior spaces in the buildings and it doesn't always
060adequately cool classrooms even with use of fans plus having the windows open can destruct in the learning process given there's lawn mowers running and Windsor fans blowing papers around the classroom Studies have shown the negative impact on learning and the significant loss of learning from higher temperatures in classrooms adding air conditioning is a capital Improvement that would benefit every single student and staff member in the district yes there's a significant cost at it but other school districts have figured out how to do this even without raising taxes and we need to do the same we need to start the planning process now because the trend of warmer temperatures continues to rise in our area and the outside air quality continues to worsen we must make this a priority evaluate the cost and how to fund
061this this is a health and safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately so we can protect the students and staff I'm aware that since Calkins is geothermal and has air conditioning in many large spaces the staff students and staff don't experience the same overheating issues in warmer weather the administrative building and the main offices and many if not all the schools also have air conditioning since some staffs are on 12-month contracts I'm sure you've already had to use your air conditioning many times over the current school year I agree the administrators and principals work hard and should be comfortable but should we also ensure that our children and all of our staff members are also comfortable no matter what school they attend or work at why do only the students that attend Calkins deserve
062to learn in a comfortable environment where the students that attend Barker and the other Pittsburgh schools are literally sweating in their classrooms don't all the students and our district deserve the opportunity to learn in a safe and healthy environment I urge you to consider this proposal now thank you we have two additional comments that were sent in to be read I've gone through them all the points in these uh have already been stated so what I'm going to do is I will circulate them so that all the board members do get a chance to look at them one was from Michelle Rick's eight Turtle Creek um Pittsford New York and the other was from Dorothy Barker 17 Northfield gate so I'll circulate these solid board members so that they can get to see them but
063since all the information in them has already been covered I'm Gonna Move Along oh you are here okay um everything in yours with you are Michelle rex or Dorothy um if you want to read it and that's fine it's do you have you have a copy yeah yeah okay hi I'm Dorothy Belk worker I'm at 17 Northfield gate we have a responsibility to our students and staff to improve air quality including air conditioning in our school buildings as we have seen with covid and with the recent Wildfire smoke it is important for the health of our community and our students ability to learn that we provide clean healthy air concurrent with the Smoky air quality closing windows increase the heat to untenable conditions we must provide air conditioning we don't need to cool down to
06465 degrees we just need to take the edge off so that students and teachers are not distracted from learning by discomfort and sweat two out of the 10 months of the school year are already summer months and the temperatures are increasing we've already had hot days in April and May this year this is not to take away from the value of fresh air but it's currently not functional to depend on open Windows school buildings are already hot year round even in the winter in summer and shoulder Seasons it becomes unbearable for the students it may take long-term planning but we can accomplish the goal of air conditioning to support our Learners who are the whole reason we have a school district thank you thank you next Amanda Casey thank you for taking my comment um
065good evening my name is Amanda Casey I live at 2985 Clover Street and I have a first grader at Jeff Road um first of all thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to our students in Pittsburgh we appreciate everything that you do we understand that over the summer you will be deciding on whether to establish a district level sustainability committee we provide to provide some additional data to inform your decision myself and a few other parents some of whom are here tonight decided to distribute a petition to see whether other members of the Pittsburgh Community felt as we did that a committee is needed to help our district become more environmentally sustainable we became we began with a pen and paper petition and quickly gathered 30 signatures so we decided to do
066an online petition and just starting last week and we got over 140 signatures so far um and Counting given more time and more more time and with through social media we are confident we could gather many more signatures um we have brought copies of the petition for you to review if you'd like I am I urge you to read the heartfelt comments that signers wrote from the form um many identified ways that Pittsford could take progress on these issues some have already been told today about Rising climate temperatures um many identified ways that Pittsburgh could make progress with these issues for example through composting reducing plastic consumption in lunchrooms planting gardens hosting Earth Week events installing solar panels heat pumps Etc they were they want action and not simple and not simply committee but a
067committee to identify priorities and resources and coordinate these efforts in a good is a good start um transitioning to more sustainable practices products and energy sources can be costly at least in the short term and complicated and Educators and administrators have enough on their plates a district sustainability committee composed of students administrators members of the board Educators Pittsford community members and parents with expertise in these issues could bring much needed focus and creativity in these transitions area school districts already have such committees and we can learn from their work um we were told that um you would take this idea more seriously and faster of the Pittsburgh students were brought if students brought it to you but we wonder why they should have to come here to give you this idea when many of them
068that we've talked to have already talked to their principals in schools so we as parents are advocating for them today the Wildfire smoke that blanketed Pittsford last week was a stark reminder that we do not escape the effects of climate change or the changing climate and we certainly should not be adding to the problem we need effort effortful leadership such as yourselves to make this happen thank you for your time thank you next up Amy Ord hello um I wanted to speak really quickly tonight about my concern regarding politics and activism in your schools you have philosophies that are being taught as reality things like gender identity race and now there's transformative social emotional learning which is basically social emotional learning infused with race and gender Theory plus social justice activism beliefs and emotions are
069looked at now through an equity lens because even your emotions can be inequitable relationship skills are now in terms of your skin color race and gender kids examine their bias under this model even though they may not even be biased but you have to make sure that they learn that they are and you think in terms of what's best for the group is emphasized over the individual uh you know it's a little strange to me because in the real world kids will have social emotional learning problems and telling them that it's their bias or their white privilege or that they're oppressed you know when they flip a desk they're just going to look at you and they're not going to learn anything from that these topics affect a student's sense of self and mental health
070no one in your District I keep realizing that's making these type of decisions has any experience or background in mental health um some of these systems you know the it's a maybe a surprise in some districts but the systems level consultant in social emotional learning behavior and mental health supports in a school is typically the school psychologist they handle these mtss models this was you probably can't see it but this is the one you have for for mental health I believe um and you know I think your model is just missing a few key components um you know at the tier one at this first level uh you don't really have a curriculum it's a big problem if you don't have a solid research-based curriculum I've been asking for over a year what what what
071you do with the kids I get told different things like one time got told there was no curriculum so I just want to know what you're doing it should be the same throughout all the elementary schools in the middle and the high school data collection is another area in mtss models it's very important every student in your school and their progress should be able to be graphed um and you are supposed to take that data and have like data team meetings and they provide the justification for you moving up and down to the more intense levels I'm not quite sure that's happening here um I've went to a PTSA Dei Zoom meeting recently and I really did find out a little bit more than what I was being told I heard you have a BOCES
072consultant so I looked them up and um they seem to be a very uh well they're like an activist it says an activist right under their name I'm just wondering how much the BOCES has that's influencing you um if it was me I wouldn't be paying a lot of money to the BOCES for this model um here teachers are being put in roles I've said this before to be the social emotional learning teacher mental health therapist and teacher besides no training and I mean no degree teachers are told you could wrap it up that'd be great yes that SEL has to live in the adult before it can live in the students so teachers have to sometimes transform themselves before they can transform their students so there are going to be kids who struggle with
073behavior and mental health and you're gonna just have to provide them with the real skills that they will need not identity politics politics philosophies never have and never will results thank academic and behavioral outcomes for children but School skill instruction prescriptive and tailored by the right professionals will it's very easy to destroy exist and say we're going to activate but you're still reading you thank you Michael Shaughnessy oh okay thanks uh Mike Shaughnessy for Standish way I have attended several Pittsford Central School District board meetings over the past three years and I've personally been involved with comments to the board and observed comments from Pittsburgh Community District parents and Associates I have always believed that the board cared and was generally interested in the comments presented of recent I've been concerned and I believe that
074although the interest and concern for the Pittsford Central School District students exists among the parents among among the board although actions are and feedback in many cases are non-existent even though superintendent apparel May provide some feedback occasionally I'm convinced that another party is directing the board and group in making decisions for the Board of Education as mentioned at a previous board meeting more than 40 school districts across the America are suing social media giants like Facebook Snapchat Tick Tock in federal court for them creating a youth and Health crisis school districts allege that the companies have knowingly caused harm to children with their malicious algorithms they are seeking damages for the larger Mental Health Services needed here at home ongoing or not how does Pittsburgh Central School District plan to address such situations to avoid
075dramatic and serious social media incidents in our schools may be much less or no access to cell phone use during the school or classroom hours like it was 12 to 13 years ago as I recall in the Pittsburgh Central School District is a place to start Senator Marshall Blackburn is taking another swing at the social media companies to make an effort to keep children and users safe online to protect the children on social media along with Senator Richard Blumenthal Blackburn reintroduced the kids online safety act which aims to require social media platforms to Shield children from addictive algorithms and inappropriate content create tools for parents to report abuse and undergo annual audits it has become impossible to deny that our children are suffering at the hands of big Tech so far more than a third
076of this U.S Senate have signed on as Originals co-sponsors even our Senator New York Senator Schumer says he is 100 behind the bill in efforts to protect our kids online if past kids online safety act would require media companies to for example make their strongest privacy settings the default for anyone under 18. create reporting tools for the parents to identify harmful behavior and Report abuse the bill holds big Tech accountable and puts the burden on the social media for a platform social media is aggravating and exacerbating the Mental Health crisis it's face students and all of us in this country and and it is cruel a cruel truth that it is being that it is by Design and not by accident lastly I recently was made aware of some graphic story books part stopper volumes
077one through three that I obtained at the Pittsford Public Library first first printing was January twenty twenty twenty two for these four volumes are in the Parker Middle School the literary significance of these books is severely wrap it up please what's the point for these to be in the Barker Middle School when these books can be obtained in the public Pittsford public library book Banning is not the point here these books have zero purpose in our school libraries I provided you with some examples of some of the content in these books for your review thank you hey Mike just a answer a couple of your questions at the middle school both Parker Road and Calkins Road uh cell phones are not permitted so at the middle schools we don't have cell phones they're in there
078you have to be in their lockers they're in their bags they're not out during the day at all and that's something new this year and then at the high schools students are only allowed to take out their cell phones and classes if they have permission from their teacher so that's that's also new this year we also brought in a pretty amazing speaker to work with our kids at Calkins every grade level Parker ever grade level men in every grade level Sutherland every grade level and then we hosted a parent night which we probably had about 200 people show around the the dangers of social media and the implications of doing the wrong thing or what to do if you're receiving the wrong things or inappropriate things so we are doing quite a bit more relative
079to education bringing in real practical strategies and speakers for kids as well as uh through practice reducing the amount of student use on phones and totally eliminating at the middle school for now yeah yeah thank you next up is uh William excuse Bill skews yesterday Lane on February 14th I submitted requests for the reevaluation of four pornographic books that are in the Pittsford schools on February 15th I received acknowledgment of receipt from assistant superintendent Melanie Ward this began the 60-day process of reevaluating the books as cited in the pcsd policy manual I received the final report from the superintendent on May 11 almost 90 days later along the way I received some weak excuses for the Committees not complying with the 60-day process which I interpreted as delaying tactics after all it is the pcsd's
080policy manual that lays out the 60-day process not me it will surprise no one that these committees unanimously approve each of the four pornographic books for which I requested re-evaluation the Committees were made up of pcsd assistant superintendent for instruction Mendon High School principal Sutherland High School principal standards leader for secondary Ela slash Mendon High School English Department leader standards leader for Library K-12 Mendon High School librarian Sutherland High School librarian Sutherland High School English Department leader and the PTSA co-president I will comment on one of the books and its re-evaluation committee's comments the book's title is this book is gay the committee said quote the committee felt strongly this was an important book to have available to our students unquote and quote this book is a survival guide for lgbtq plus students in that
081it fills a need that has not been filled previously by other resources unquote these are interesting comments given the sexually graphic material contained in this book for example page 173 discusses in detail various homosexual activities such as handes blow and bumming Beyond this page 156 explains how sex apps work how to upload your picture how to find the nearest homosexuals how and where to arrange meeting these strangers for sexual activity is this what the committee means by important how young boys in the Pittsford schools can arrange meetings with adult men and instruct them on the activities to perform when they meet as I stated in a previous Board of Education meeting federal and state laws prohibit providing and distributing pornographic material to minors we now have the members of the Board of Education the superintendent
082and the members of the reevaluation committees on record for choosing buying defending and distributing pornographic material to minors I do have to respond to that Mr excuse so the um just to clarify some misinformation that you shared the public the board education policy and I'll quote the language in there it says the Review Committee will submit a written report of the results of their review to the superintendent in 60 days a receipt of the formal objection which they did I did receive it within the 60-day window and they weren't weak excuses as a matter of fact what I shared with you um was the following an email Dear Mr Excuse thank you for submitting your book challenge I apologize for the length of time it took to process this book we received challenges for several
083different books at the same time and our process was designed for a single book challenge given that multiple books were challenged and in most cases Pittsford only housed one or two in totality within our libraries we had to borrow copies from as far well I'm not going to name schools but we had to borrow from nine different districts so that everyone on the committee could have nine books so they can read it from start to finish that's 36 books we had to borrow because we only had in some cases one in the entire District um additionally this process involved the committee of nine different members that needed to read each book in its entirety and then both evaluate and process the challenges individually and then collectively as a committee attached is the work and the
084findings thank you so that was my email I don't think that was a lame excuse and for clarity the policy was met the committee did their work and made a recommendation to me in 60 days um so um I I also just feel like I have to because it's a wide audience that we're streaming to clarify something else you quoted one piece of the rationale um what you quoted was the committee felt strongly this was an important book to have available to our students and this book is a survival guide for lgtbq and students in that it fills a need that has not been filled previously so you that's what you chose to pull out of of a breadth of of work that we submitted so I want to read what you received respect responsive
085to this book Mr excuse committee members acknowledge that there are passages in the book that could raise concerns for many people but those are not the people for whom the book was written one section of the book that has caught the attention of those filing objection is chapter nine which you read from the ins and outs of gay sex committee members acknowledge potential concerns but also appreciate the value as much needed information for lgtbq plus students that we are not good at providing through them and any other means throughout this section as in all sections of the book the author takes care to emphasize safe practices the importance of safety physical and emotional is also emphasized throughout chapter eight where to meet people like you while the discussion of dating apps is concerning to some
086and passages from the section are included in the objections filed the author again takes care to emphasize the importance of safety in very practical ways the final sections of the book The chapter for parents and caregivers as well as the resources also felt important and were applauded by committee members as providing needed information and support for the intended audience of the book the committee's discussion reflected what we know about the statistics for young people who come out as lgtbq plus and are not welcome or supported by their families or communities in this the toll it takes on individuals mental health too often resulting in suicide attempts we would certainly want all young people to be able to have honest and supportive conversations at home and our concern for those that are unable to do so
087the book could facilitate those discussions or at least help young people feel they are not alone while also providing them with access to much needed information people aren't going to pick the book up if they don't need it in our circulation records show that only one student has checked out this book in the library um in the entire District so we we went through I don't know how how many hours and days in this process for books that we have one or two students over a three-year period checking checking out and they check it out because they they feel a need to check it out however the librarian reports that the book appears to have been visited by other students over time to be to be fair the book doesn't teach you to be gay
088it's not a how-to or groomer resource reading it doesn't make you gay but it might make you a better Ally our kids safety their ability to be who they are and our ability to provide a safe and welcoming environment is Paramount retaining this book in our libraries is part of establishing that safe and welcoming environment finally it was noted that this book received significantly strong reviews and so that was a review that was sent to you for one book and I and I and I just feel I have to explain that when you take one sentence of something that was sent and bring it here people are leaving with a different impression the committee that met and I sat in that meeting for a short period of time it was emotional it was hard it
089was thoughtful and it all came back to our students and their needs the other thing I just want to clarify because I worry about who's on the other side watching us is we fully support and adore our lgtbq plus students we want to support them we want to assist them we want to work with families we we want an environment and I'll say it again where all students feel affirmed welcomed and cared for in this District thank you [Applause] so for one last time may I please have a motion to adjourn I'll make that motion and can I have a second thank you Jeff all those in favor any opposed We Stand adjourned next meeting is July 11 2023.