001Allegiance if we can have everybody stand for the plge of Allegiance thank you moving along to uh Communications 4.01 public comments on agenda items no one signed up for agender items thank you we're going to wave the reading Until the End 4.02 Communications announcements received by the Board of Education don't yeah if you just bear with me one second I do have a quick announcement I just like to thank the Rotary Club again for the students of the months uh congratulations to Marcus de gallo uh from rck Vera Gorman from Maya corners and Mason Seymour from Evans and O oth kcam from sheath Road and all the parents and staff that supported these students congratulations to the John J uh Senior Olympics uh science Olympics they play sixth uh in New York state and they
002won eight medals so I'd like to send out a congratulations to those students I'd also like to just bring everybody up to date with the DC bosies I'd like to congratulate jod Duca she's been appointed our new district superintendent as of the uh March meeting March 14th meeting and we have a new interm Deputy super attendant that was appointed as an interm Lewis rialo Jr so I'd like to uh welcome Lewis to the team and he comes from uh putam Northwest Chester Bose's and he's going to be with this as an inter term until we search for a full-time Deputy superintendent thank you Marie Johnson you have something yes I'd like to um say since the last meeting um several of us had the great honor I'm sure will be coming forward for going to
003the state-of the county address that was held at John J high school and I want to thank firstly um principal kilawa and his entire team for their uh getting the building ready I also want to say thank you to Ava Dvorak who sings our national anthem so beautifully and brings chills to my heart every single time I hear that young woman sing also Sophia puglio Puglia I'm sorry who was was honored with introducing Sue Sereno and she was so beautiful and she did such an amazing job um honoring women for women's history month and an amazing performance by our royy Ketchum step team which um I do have video Archive of Our superintendent with the step team someday I'll release that for everybody oh yes um I also was able to attend Pi Day at
004vanw um junior high school with Dr Miller and Mr uh Lumia I'm sure will be expounding on that um Junior's Beetle juu outstanding and we need to get that backdrop permanently to be able to do the uh the scenery in the back I we're going to have to figure that out how we're going to do that the royy Ketchum Spanish Honor Society where several of us went um again thank you Mr Lumia for stepping up to be able to give a speech that day to our students that was very very well planned thank you um John J career fair there was so many people I believe it was 115 vendors Mr Morgan was also there on behalf of his college and it was great to see everybody um we had International night also uh the
005same night at Van white which was great a lot of brilliant talent and and then food afterwards so everybody don't forget this weekend is curtains at John J so make sure you get out to see that performance and also spring sports are starting and just so we know I wore royy ketchum's racing gear a a few weeks ago and I finally got my John Jay in so I also honoring John Jay's racing team for Winter Circle it's one of the best projects that I love going to see and watch is both of those teams thank you thank you trusty Johnson trusty Kellen in addition to all these events I would like to mention uh Miss ra rapaport's program for sixth graders in writing novels at Meyers Corners nine students got up and read the first
006chapters of their novels each of them was those were about four or five minutes long and it was H if you had told me that some of them were uh commercial ones that sell frequently I would have believed them because they were so good and uh we hope to see great great things from uh those students in the future hopefully they will finish their novels and go on to be uh find English students in seventh and eth grade thank you trusty anyone else Mr Lumia I sincerely hope that program M report has continues is really was exceptional the kids are really really really good they're able to write not part of a first chapter of their novel which I so I hope it continues last week I attended a spring concert at Jan J with
007sixth graders from fish Plains Gad Brinkerhoff as well as seventh and eighth graders from ven white Junior High School as well as high school performed the students were excellent how I want to recognize an eighth grader by the name of Leon oino who was asked to play in Carnegie Hall incredible can you imagine an eighth grader playing at Carnegie Hall when I heard that I was shocked I was incredible I want to thank the teachers for all they do for for our students as uh my my n here stated regarding uh what do you call it the P day that's the mill is a program where there's six there's six school there five Schools elementary schools there involved kids the kids are involved the parents bring them in the morning probably two SCS I want
008to congratulate all the students from Oak Grove who were able to establish the Guinness World Record multiplying 96 by 96 digit 48 by 48 12 x 12 and 24 by 24 the age to 96 to 96 require 191 digits I can't I can't conceive of me even repeating those 191 digitals without making a mistake Dr Mill is exceptional and I sincerely hope that program continues long after I'm gone and I hope they can it goes on to not only five schools but additional schools so I don't think Dr Miller and again that I already mentioned what Mrs uh Ken already stated and with that that's it johnan thank you trusty L trusty Morgan thank you president Farland um in connection with the Science Olympiad and the math achievement and the writing achievement that all ties
009into why we had so many vendors at John J and similarly um to the the College and Career Fair at at Ketchum uh word is out that's I don't know how often Jet Blue comes and recruits at high schools Jet Blue was there um they sent a pilot in uniform uh to man their Booth uh the FBI sent two people um to man a booth um so it is the outstanding achievement of our students that then um brings about interest in attracting those students to businesses and governmental agencies um and I think that that that's a reflection um of the work that the faculty does and the support that the students receive at at home to excel in the classroom um and congratulations to Mrs keing in particular for organizing the college and career fair
010but its success I think is a reflection on the entire District thank you trusty Morgan anyone else I have a I would like to congratulate students from the district that were participated in the United States track and field they uh participated unattached to the school sports but they had one student from J he took second place in the high jump and sixth place in the hurdle you have a rck student that was third place in the 1500 meter run and a a group of young men who ran in the um yeah 4 by 4 by 100 so congratulations to those students and with spring uh season to come you will see more from them and get their names and those they have done thank you trusty odms anyone else okay moving right along to 4.03
011committee reports Capital Improvement is chaired by Eddie slosa we had our meeting on March 5th trustee capillari trustee Johnson and myself as well as board president McFarland just some quick updates again uh not to be too repetitive but I guess I will be uh we will be testing the new uh Chilla and air conditioning system at Fishkill Plains Elementary hopefully within the next couple of weeks as the weather gets a little bit warmer I think we're looking at at least a 60 65 degree day to uh test the system again uh kitchen Hood work will all be done uh during the summer uh we also uh sorry our work continues on the uh bus garage here at wers Junior High hopefully we'll have that project completed uh by the summertime as well uh We've begun
012some uh work that we wanted to start last year if everyone remembers we did not get approval from s in Time to Begin work on Van white uh subsequently that was approved so we're looking to jump start the summer work at Van white so we do have some uh asbestos removal going on in the auditorium uh to repair the uh floors uh we're continuing to do uh some construction documents uh at John J for the Press Box uh also we are still weather permitting again hopefully the weather will be warm to finalize and finish up our new athletic sound systems at both of the high schools on the football fields uh our traffic study for Myers corner I believe is uh should be in this week uh the capital committee will be reviewing it and
013then sharing that information with the full board uh tentatively uh at our next board meeting and that's pretty much it uh our next meeting will be uh the first uh Wednesday in April which I believe is April 2nd April 3D I'm sorry Wednesday April 3D 9:30 at the rck annex thank you thank you trusty slos um our Wellness chairperson is now with us this evening so we'll do policy and our chair is truste Kellen thank you the policy committee met on March 6th uh with myself uh board members Mr McFarland Miss mots in present and also uh assistant superintendent Darren loima and district clerk Alberta Pedro uh they at this time we uh approved uh policies which you see for second reading today on choosing an ex official student member of the board and uh
014on relating to extreme heat conditions and display of the flague because we have completed our three-year review and have addressed all the nisba policy updates and no issue have been raised except one minor one we are not going to meet in April or May a to allow our district clerk to uh do the um vast amount of work related to the elections but we will meet the first Wednesday in June thank you trusty K uh now we have uh DC SBA uh board representative Peggy Kellen again okay The Duchess County School boards Association met by zoom on March 6 and Mr McFarland and myself were present yeah Mr mcfar is that better okay Mr McFarland and myself were present we met by Zoom uh the the bosis candidates introduced themselves and the main point of
015the meeting was to we discussed cell phone policies at the different school districts thank you trusty Ken superintendent report 5.01 thank you president McFarland members of the Board of Education and the wer Central School District Learning Community as you've heard from our board members they have highlighted some of the important items and experiences that we provide for our students outside of the classroom we believe that that is just as important as the opportunities that we provide them inside the classroom and as you've heard when we provide our students with an opportunity to experience success it is infectious to the point where I am very pleased to hear a good 10 minutes every board meeting of congratulations on all of the fine accomplishments of our students and of our staff and also the commitment that our
016community continues to show as you mentioned Mr Morgan in partner in with our schools we are fully committed to providing success for all of our students this will continue I also want to indicate that I had an opportunity yesterday to attend a receptions for James warriors uh with uh that program occurs in three of our schools uh IT addresses student mental health which I believe we all understand is something that we continue to combat and I would like to thank James Warriors and their staff for not only the difference that they're making in Wappingers by speaking with our students and families but the the difference that they are making throughout New York state so I want to thank Mrs Tom thas for all of her efforts I see principal Thompson is back there I saw
017him yesterday at the event I know principal scy participates uh as well as principal D Stefano and again this is another way in which we reach out to our community as a team to be part of the solution and again that is something that will continue because we believe that it's important and with that I want to thank Jes Warriors and I want to thank our board members for continuing to celebrate the many positive things that are going on in this school district and we need to always be reminded of that when we go to these events so we have conversations as to what is important what isn't important it's all important it's all of our students and they all deserve the same opportunities and activities thank you thank you superintendent Dr bnk 5.02 DC
018Bose's budget presentation by Matt metzer by the way Mr Meer I'd like to thank you for being here this evening we certainly enjoy our partnership with duchess bosies especially in the areas of Career and Technical education I'd also like to congratulate the new district superintendent Dr jod Delia as well as new interim superintendent Mr Lewis Riolo so Mr metre we'd like to thank you and welcome you here this evening thank you do you have a working mic I believe so is this the PowerPoint okay so uh good evening superintendent Bon and members of the wer board education I'm the school business official from uh Duchess Bose Matt Meer I'm really here to speak um in summary about our administrative budget uh that you'll be voting on um also you know kind of in a summary
019and then talk about some of the exciting things that are happening at Duchess Bose's uh we're very thrilled to have uh you know the recent appointment of uh Dr jod Delia superintendent uh she would normally be presid with me uh but tonight she's up in Albany um that's part of her duties Now is really representing uh Duchess County at the at the state level so this is our current Board of Trustees you might recognize the familiar face up there this April we have three spots up for election there's two incumbents and one vacant spot uh the highest two vote Getters will be elected to a three-year term and the third will be elected for a two-year term uh this will election will take place on uh Tuesday April 22nd at each of the uh components
020boards just to kind of highlight some of the the timelines we have here in in January our service requests went out to the district that really encompasses most of the programs and services that we do um and that goes to the business officials and they start Gathering the information for what they want to participate for in the next school year we're going to ask that those service requests come back from the school districts on April 4th um and on April 22nd that's when we're going to vote on this administrative budget that I'm speaking to tonight it's in important to remember that this is the one budget that during the year we really can increase it's it's voted on by the third it's contributed by the 13 component districts and it's voted on by them solely
021so it's important that we get that right um and then really in June 11th uh bosies will improve our approve our entire budget which will not only include the administrative piece but also all the programs and services that other districts have signed up for we do know do know that they'll change during the year um based on participation in the programs but we have to start somewhere and that's what we do so just a few assumptions here as we move into the 25 26 school year you know retire health insurance cons continues to be the you know the really the largest burden on this budget uh as I mentioned in past years um health insurance is covered by by specific programs while teachers are active but once they retire uh it all comes into this
022administrative budget and uh that's because you know certain programs May uh end but um you know we have a commitment to pay their insurance uh after they retire we try and offset where we can um summon the administrative budget with Administration fees from non-component districts so as I mentioned the 13 districts are responsible for funding the administrative budget but we do services and other programs for school districts outside of our County so when we when we provide a service then what we do is we we actually charge a higher rate and we try and bring some of that admin fee in to help offset it seems fair to me it doesn't seem that like you know the 13 districts should have all the burden on this we're going to continue to really to focus on
023facilities and maintenance and I'll talk about that a little bit as we uh as we move on so really here's the uh the proposed budget for 2526 we can see that we have a total budget of just under $7 million 6.8 uh as I mentioned the majority of it is the retire health insurance uh which is at 5 million dollar approximately that's a 7% increase um from last year you know where're bosis as as wers is a member of the uh Dutch's educational health insurance Consortium lot of discussion you know the the I think the the biggest um increase really is is coming as a result of prescription drugs um in the last year and then when we look at the non-administrative um or non-retired administrative piece that's really that covers the superintendent salary the
024board clerk our Board of Trustees uh parts of the business office we're actually down um just about 2% in that where we can we try and move a full-time equ which are basically salaries when when we can move those salaries out of the administrative budget we can get them into some programs where we think it's defendable we try and do that to the best their ability so we have a really a total budget that's up just about four and a half percent and when we look at what's going to fund that uh certainly the components charge the 13 districts is the Lion Share uh we need to collect $6.3 million from the districts this year for that it's up just under 8% the other revenue is really interest earnings is the is the majority of
025that and we kind of project that they're going to go down in the next school year so we've only budgeted for $555,000 there when we look at uh lingers uh for next year 25 26 a very substantial increase of 10.4% uh up about $172,000 greater than the the the budget that we propose this is really a result of uh our wada which is how we divide the component share of this budget mentioned this in the past years as well mean whoers very easily is 30% of the uh you know duches County last year the total arada for the county was 37362 it's actually G up to 37560 Wappingers has gone up I think 294 was the number I had written down so what that means is that a lot of the a lot of the
026districts have actually decreased so as a result of that you're gonna you're G to pick up a larger share of the of the cost of this like to remind everybody what arada is really a state uh aid number it's based on enrollment it's important to remember that the seventh through 12th graders are actually computed at 1.25% so if you have basically four high scores it really comes out to five so it's not going to match you if you're trying to match that to it to your enrollment for your District you're not going to be able to match that up NOP too far I'd like to at this evening too is a talk about our capital and Rental funding as well so each year we get a a similar contribution from our districts we're going to
027keep that at $1 million which is consistent with last year and we still have a few rentals in our in in some of the school districts uh we have a rental agreements with Spackenkill and Red Hook and we're gonna we're going to reduce that to $60,000 so in total down $5,000 but once again due to the increased um share by uh Wappingers for arada and increase here of just over $5,000 this is kind of just highlights your book of business uh with Duchess bosis for the uh um 2324 school year so and this includes maybe cross contracts that you might have um with another Bose's oler Bose's or putam Northern Westchester but it was really $17 million book of business uh the Surplus return on that was $2.4 million and it generated uh 3.1 million
028in Bose Aid uh the aid ratio of bosis is approximately 55% um so really a return of investment about 31% it doesn't include excess cost Aid which is uh that's that's driven on special ed coasters and the like just kind of like to highlight your participation with us at uh at bosei you have 57 in special and alternative Ed um so 34 are located at our our soul Point Center um nine are in our Alternative High School and four actually in District so that could either be located at Spackenkill or Red Hook as I previously mentioned and there's 105 five students uh participating in our CTI program uh some of the larger ones are uh Auto Tech Electric trades uh cosmetology and Culinary Institute and uh you know it's it's a it's a pretty exciting
029time at posies I think we've really come out of the pandemic pretty strong I think the certainly the this the CTI enrollment is up substantially our Alternative High School I think three years ago was about 75 students we're up to about 150 in that that program now and uh special at as as well High enrollment certainly children coming out of the the pandemic um you know have have some needs and we're and we're addressing those we're really focusing on Space utilization we' we've run out of space ironically very quickly after our new build um you know with the enrollment and the programs that we're running and the focus is really to try and and create a a self and welcoming and respectable School culture that's sometimes difficult we want to make sure that they're safe
030and secure but we Al also want them to be feel welcome when they're when they're coming to our facilities so I know Jody's going to continue to be effective and communicate and collaborate between the key stakeholders I know that's a you know part of her part of our plan and to really what we'd really like to see is really the CTI really become a state the art facility for learning really to kind of increase the offerings there and increase some of the equipment and things that the at the that the children are using um we're thankful to have a our PCH program that's being hosted here at royc Ketchum um I think they have there's 11 wer students that are they're they're finishing up I think their first year in that so be happy to
031take any questions um I will be repeating this performance again uh April 9 at our our Board of Trustees meeting and that's kind of our formal budget meeting and then like I said it would go out to vote for you do we have any questions Mr Mela go ahead Mr Morgan good evening Mr Mesker thank you for uh for going through this uh for the for the Board of Education and the wers community um when you talked about your key budget assumptions the very first one was uh consistent enrollment in CTI and special alternative education programs um but you began with health insurance and went down I was hoping um given our large support of uh C TI and and sending students to that if you could talk about how that impacts the budget please
032yeah you know I think I had mentioned before about the increase in enrollment and I think it's important for us to um I think what would really help us absorb some of this administrative budget if if we can find some type of Niche a niche service that not just our 13 component districts are coming to us for um but maybe you know from outside ster putham counties and then as I mentioned you know we we have an administrative fee that we charge in that so the cost of opers might be $25,000 but if it's a non-component we would we would charge 27,000 just as an example a little uptick on it and I think that money coming in would be able to um you know absorb some it's kind of help the admin budget the
033best we can so um just like I said though I think it's just really a key an exciting time up there really is I mean the numbers I think you know probably 2019 probably 600 enrolled in CTI I think now we're approaching 900 I know there's waiting list for some of the classes that the um you know that the that the students want to enroll in so is having non-component school districts send students to Duchess bosies a matter of adding new programs or is it a matter of of marketing and making people aware um of what Dutchess posies is doing outside of the 13 component districts yeah I I think it's a little combination I mean there's certain times with special ed where we might have a program that really nicely fits a student that's
034outside the county so they'll be willing to come to us for that but you know it may also be um you know a state-of-the-art maybe CTI program that we could develop that maybe some of the other bosies aren't aren't really offering I think those are some and it and it may be something that's not even related to specifically to um you know the students but it might be a program that we do perhaps for the business office or for maybe you know one of the departments in the school district that that there might be an opportunity there for no no pressure but just to to give the new superintendent a a a 365 day running start maybe maybe she could be with us next year and talk about her her vision for a more specific
035example thank you okay you got it thank you trusty Morgan uh trusty Johnson uh yes Mr Met miter um um just to clarify for some of the the people out there so that they understand this is the administrative budget so this is not those students that we talked about the 39 special ed and the 105 CTI we do actually have a larger Bose budget um because we pay per student for those as well correct that's correct this is very specific to the you know the board clerk the superintendent the board of trustees the business office and it's you know it's like I said it's it's it's one that we cannot we cannot increase this or decrease it during the year right if a we run a special ed coaster and we have you know it
036starts out with 15 students but all of a sudden our enrollment goes up to 20 we're gonna we can increase our budget in total but this one this one we cannot right I just wanted to clarify because I know some people look at our budget and say well it says Bose's on there and there's a much bigger number than than than the 1.8 that is listed on here this is just one portion of our bosies um we still also uh have to participate when it comes to the students for um the CTI we pay per student so uh the enrollment could change differently as that goes as well I just wanted to point that out for the public thank you thank you truste Johnson uh I'd like to get uh trusty odms yeah thank you
037for sharing the the opportunity academic opportunities I don't know if that discussion I know you talking about the administrative funding but when you look I don't know if that's the if that's what you was implying but even when you look at the Whoppers compared to the next school it's the uh the year-to DAT changes double the amount so I mean I know you have an explanation for it but can you expand can you expand on that because I'm just looking at this and I'm seeing 10.4% and then I see another for Capital and Rental it just doesn't it just doesn't move the right way right so this by state law we're going to determine your share of the administrative budget by a state aid figure called ourada resident weighted average daily attendance and I think
038the premise was they use this number so it's nonarbitrary bosies could not be accused of maybe lowering the amount they charge from Arlington as opposed to lingers it's a consistent number in that it's it's it's it's produced by the state which is input it from all the districts when they do their state aid claims and that's what they determine the share is so when we look at this year it's really just that Whoppers is going up substantially they've increased by 294 you can see that most of the districts are in the red and have gone down so when we take that when we take that pie each year and we have to cut it up you have a larger share of it this year believe last year you were probably about 28 and a half%
039and this year you over 29% if I do the math thank you thank you uh president McFarland so my question is also on ourada and and I don't know if you're able to totally answer this question but as I look here um rrw went up by 1.75% Y and I believe there's only one other district oh I'm sorry two other districts whose arada went up more than ours and when I take a look at the arada they're they're similar to our enrollment numbers um because according to 2425 we're at 2526 we're at increase of 294 so is that at all related to enrollment growing enrollment is or or is that a specific formula that the state determines and if it is what do they determine that formula based on yeah I think and you may
040not be able to answer could be a combination of both so I I mentioned something before that's important your seven grades seven through 12 are at a 1.25 so when you enter when you're entering your attendance daily attendance for high school your seven through 12s are at a 1.25 so as I said every four kids turns into five where your K through six is all straight up you know what it is so it may be maybe that your population maybe is a little bit older you have more people in the high school that maybe the elementary schools as compared to some of the other districts um it maybe just that your enrollments up you know there kind of I think it's a difficult thing to kind of drill into here and to compare to the
041rest of the county but it's probably a little combination to both and I think the arada this large arada is going to help you on another state aid calculation somewhere else that that may generate more Aid thanks for the clarification man appreciate it okay thank you man okay our time is up I'm thank you man I appreciate it have a great night every thank you for all your time so we're going to be moving to uh 6.01 consent agenda anybody want to remove anything from the consent agenda Mr trusty Morgan I would like to remove from the consent agenda agenda item 6.03 it item number 10 so moved res we need a motion for that no no okay resolved resolved that the board of education does hereby approve the following consent agenda items as stated
0426.02 6.03 less item 10 6.04 4 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 and 6.14 motion trusty Kellen second by Mr lumier all in favor I see everybody no opposed thank you so moved resolved that the board of education does hereby approve the following consent agenda item as stated 6.03 item motion motion so moved second by Marie all in favor president McFarland if I could just not that I asked this item to be pulled because will be abstaining um I fully support the candidacy of my niece to become a substitute teacher in the district but I have a conflict of interest and therefore I will abstain best of luck Mary Beth con congratulations Mr Morgan thank you very much for uh letting us know about that and if we can let the superintendent
043announce oh I'm sorry we need to vote on it so motion we got a motion all in favor I John is abstaining Mr Morgan is abstaining thank you thank you president McFarland we have an individual sitting out in the audience tonight that I would like to stand it's Mr Derek Frost Mr Frost could you please stand congratulations and welcome to your new appointment Mr Frost will can you hear me Mr Frost will be one of the assistant principles at John J high school we welcome him from the Pine Bush Central School District you're a great fit we know you're going to do a great job so we welcome you and your family to whingers congratulations Mr Frost okay moving on new business 7.01 approval to attend Chamber of Commerce 40 under 40 award ceremony resolved
044that the board of education does hereby approve the following board members to attend the The Duchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce 40 under 40 mover and Shaker Awards to honor wcsd employees Brianna Crane and Zachary uter on Thursday May 1st 2025 at 6 pm at the Living Water theater located at 260 Mill Street to kipy New York at a cost of $55 registration fee do we have a motion who wants to go oh I'm sorry I thought you gave me the members any members want to attend this event trusty Morgan anyone else I see no one else myself okay motion motion Keith odms okay all in favor discuss I'm sorry you want to discuss it so would this be $55 per person or would this be per person per person uh can we uh not
045have the district pick it up and uh whichever board member attends pay a pocket Well normally if we were honoring District employees usually we have a budget item through in a board budget to attend the Ceremonies for you know specific District employees that are are participating we normally cover it so we do budget a few dollars so I think we should be okay correct Miss Pedro then we have it budgeted anyone else so we had a motion we second it all in favor I unanimous 7.02 approval of legal notice for May 2025 budget vote and board member election resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the legal notice for the May 20th 2025 budget vote and board member election as stated motion trusty Kellen second by Mr Lumia any [Music] discussion all in
046favor any opposed unanimous 7.03 approval of new Charter Club uh new club Charter Dungeons and Dragons Club at Van Wick Junior High School resolv that the board of education does hereby approve the new club Charter for the Dungeons and Dragons Club at Van White Junior High School as submitted motion Marie Johnson second by Virgil calary discussion all in favor I unanimous 7.04 approval of extra class activity funds financial statement 630 2024 and cap resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the annual EXT classroom activity funds financial statements from badino and Company LLP for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2024 and the corrective action plan as recommended by the assistant superintendent of finance and business development to the superintendent of schools as stated motion Marie Johnson second by Mr Lumia discussion all in
047FA Mr Morgan you have discussion just wanted to point out that um assistant superintendent dainy um worked uh diligently and comprehensively to put together the corrective action plan I want to recognize um those efforts thank you sir all right so all in favor I 7.05 approval of new Mark W Junior High School track and field resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the new Whoppers Junior High School track and field logo official marks created in-house by coach Jeremy Atkins as stated in the attached use of District school marks consent form and be it further resolved that the board of education does hereby wave the first reading and adopts the revision to exhibit 5260 D e.1 official marks effective March 25th 2025 to add the new image for the Whoppers track and field as
048requested by principal Thompson and athletic director jasmond motion Marie Johnson second by trusty Kellen discussion I just want to say that um I really do like this new mark that is out and uh I can't wait to see some of the gear so make sure we get the link for that too thank you truste Johnson for that information motion second all in favor unanimous thank you 7.06 second reading and Adoption of policies resolve that the Board of Education of the wer Central School District hereby approves the second reading of and adopts the following policies based upon the first reading by the board and the recommendation of the policy committee as stated motion chuste Kellen second by Mr cavalera discussion all in favor I unanimous thank you 7.07 approval of donations resolve that the board of
049education does hereby accept the following donations as stated motion Marie Johnson second by uh Eddie slawa any discussion yes Ed first I would like to express my gratitude and I believe the Gratitude of everybody sitting up here as well as everyone in this District to truste capillari for the donation and his involvement in the donation of the pmia Mia Flags uh for each of our each of our schools to go up on flag polls uh in honor and memory of those who have served and for those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so thank you sir for not only your service but for spearheading this campaign thank you so much thank you vice president slower and board and especially the uh students the district the community uh whopping your schools continues to set the standard Ed
050with honoring our past military service which has been absolutely vital to this country and uh all I can tell you is that in recent months a number of other districts have reached out asking uh about how to generate that enthusiasm none of this is possible without the support and especially those days and another special thank you to uh principal David Cy and principal uh David kazawa because both events were nothing short of outstanding thank you thank you again for that information motion second piggy all in favor I unanimous request for any additional agender items 8.01 any requests for additional items I see no requests 9.01 comments from the public thank you ladies and gentlemen we are about to listen to public comments although the state law does not require us to hold public comment periods
051we have chosen to do so because we believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues the board is here to listen the public comment period is not designed to be a debate or dialogue please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns and questions tonight we take your concerns and questions seriously and want to have time to signific significant time to process and research any issues if need be any questions from the public should be submitted through the of a public comment form which may be obtained online or at the desk of the district clerk we will have the proper staff member get back to you as appropriate as also I want to point out that under the state federal Privacy Law we are
052unable to address any comments and questions about specific students schools or Personnel we would ask you to go through the appropriate Administration channels a total of 30 minutes at the end in at the end of the beginning of each board meeting is set aside to allow for public comments on agenda items only public comments at the beginning of the meeting is limited only to the items on the agenda persons who wish to participate in the public comment portion of the meeting are asked to provide their name and a specific agenda item about which they wish to speak speak a signup sheet is located on the desk with the district clerk individual comments on agenda items is limited to three minutes and are welcome if you wish to address items related to our school district that
053are not on tonight's agenda another comment period is provided at the end of the meeting for that purpose a second signup sheet is available for non-ag agenda items in the event of a civil uh the Civility and respect for different points of views clapping booing or any disturbance during the disruption during this either public comment period is not permitted at this time comments related to agenda items where public comments are welcome so my first sign up was Mark fler fler fla m just a flash out he's from Reinbeck good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak um I'm Mark flau I'm a trustee on the Rybeck school board and I'm a candidate for Duchess Bose's board I just wanted to um take a few minutes or three minutes to introduce myself um so
054that you have uh you can match my face to the name that is on the ballot later on in April when you vote for The Duchess BOS board um I am completing my 19th year of service in as a trustee in the ryck board I've served as President and Vice President of the ryc board um served on many of the various committees uh by the way I've already sent you a letter so you've got all my bio information um I represent Rybeck at the dutes county school boards Association and I have served as President and Vice President of that organization as well I'm a great believer in collaboration of which both SE is a prime example um I believe in the importance of programs for students who may not be College Bound such as CTI
055and I feel there's a great need for cyber security and education and that bosis can be a leader in cyber security services which uh is one of those services that Mr Meer May mentioned earlier that could be sold to other districts um so I hope you'll consider voting for me for The Duchess board Duchess BOS board uh when the vote comes up later on in April and thank you for your time thank you very much Emma maradas good evening and thank you so much for having me my name is Emma and I am currently a senior at John J and I'm also the president and founder of the johnj amnesty Club so today I'm here with my fellow officers who are right in the audience there um to discuss the cancellation of our immigrant awareness
056event earlier on in March so to give you a little bit of background this event was part of national week of student action which is essentially a nationwide week of mobilization for all amsy student groups to take action on one amsy campaign so this event would have included multiple guest speakers who would have spoke about their experience with immigrating to the United States and some of the challenges that they encountered once they got here um and we had guest speakers who were John J teachers and also Rel of current John J students um I do want to stress that this event was entirely voluntary students did have the opportunity to sit out if they were uncomfortable with the topic of conversation so we did have that option for them but unfortunately this event was still
057canell the day before it was supposed to occur so I do want to start with saying that amnesty is a apolitical and nonpartisan organization and anything that our club does follows that Principle as an extension of that so this immigrant awareness event was entirely nonpartisan um our guest speakers were sharing their personal experiences and not necessarily stressing a political ideology let's take history classes for example New York State mandates in their curriculum that certain things are taught to students including anti-immigration policies and Global classes so that'll be your Chinese Exclusion acts your Emergency Quota acts um and those things are widely recognized as um anti-immigration and they're also an undeniable part of our history but so are the experiences of more recent immigrants such as the people who would have spoken at our events they
058are undeniably part of our history just as much as those policies were and who are we to say that they can't share our stories with johnj students and with other students in the districts when we're already learning about these topics in our history classes so overall when we heard that the event was canceled myself and other club members we were very disappointed we were very upset um and we almost felt as if we were being silenced because we put so much work and effort into making this event a success and it was canceled I feel without much conversation between us as amesty members and the district so going forward I would really like to establish that connection between us and the district and talking more about what exactly we can do to make our events
059more agreeable to the student population and have less issues going forward where we can still get our message out and having a meaningful impact um as somebody who is very very involved in extracurriculars at John J I am very passionate about this topic and I really want to be able to talk about these issues openly so I am urging you to amend the policy about talking about controvers controversial issues just to include Club activities in there because I founded johnj amnesty to really have an impact on my school community and The Wider community and I I truly think that we can do that with this amendment thank you for your time thank you Daniela Rosado hello good evening my name is danela rosado and I'm a sophomore at John J high school and the social
060media manager of Amnesty International thank you for having me today I would like to build upon what Emma said in the terms of the district's response to a event amnesty wanted to hold and the importance of the topic that we were speaking on Our intention was never to be biased or to we wanted to aim and to provide a space of education and understanding for students and we believe that opening discussions about immigrant rights are essential for a healthy Community immigrant rights are not just a political issue but a human issue affecting many individuals and families in our community every person deserves to have their rights recognized and protected regardless of their background um I know myself I have an experience very similar to other people in my school I'm a first gen student with
061immigrant parents that holds the situation very close to my heart and each of us has a story intertwined immigrant experience whether it be our friends neighbors or family these stories are vital to understanding the challenges and contributions of immigrants and that is all our speakers would have liked to share with our students um we wanted to hold this event to further educate people and ourselves about the realities of immigrant lives and systemic CH challenges they face including discrimination so the education can combat fear and misinformation fostering understanding for our students and for ourselves um by learning about each other's experience we can dispel myths and build a more inclusive community um this event would have allowed individuals to share personal stories creating a safe space for dialogue and connection hearing firstand accounts can profoundly impact
062our perceptions and attitudes so this is a topic we should all care about especially our school district listening to others cultivates empathy which is essential for a un a United Community and a unit and United District when we understand each other's struggles we can work together toward common goals and educate I urge the board to in the future make sure that our students are heard and respected our school Community should be a strong welcoming environment for students to share and express relatable and educational topics thank you thank you moving right along 10.01 motion to adjourn resolve that the board of education does hereby adjourn the March 24th 2025 Board of Education meeting the time is now 8:34 p.m. motion Marie Johnson second by Virgil calary all in favor I any he opposed thank you thank
063you very