001America thank you 101 School Board uh uh State School Board recation we superintendent all yours thank you president Lumia members of the Board of Education members of the Wagers School District Community uh every year this week is board recognition week and I personally would like to thank all nine of our board members for their leadership and their support they truly do all of this for our students and for our district it's a lot of time it's a lot of hours it's always good conversation and I can assure you that uh their motive for doing what they do by serving our community in this role is certainly done on behalf of our students in our community so I want to thank them for that let's give a round of applause if you could [Music] please and
002Edition we have the John J Futures farmers of America let's give them a round of [Applause] applause countless Awards and recognitions not only within our County but throughout our state we are so proud of you and the work that you've done Mrs McFarland I want to thank you along and Mr Hancock and everyone involved in the program it is certainly a model and we are very proud to have it uh who would have known that within 3 years right right am I right three years it's been 3 years 2020 almost almost four what you have been able to achieve and what you've been able to contribute to our community and the experiences for our students has not been matched and we know you will continue to do great things so at this point it is
003my pleasure to bring up Mrs McFarland Mrs McFarland well first of all thank you for having us tonight um we do have a bunch of our officers and some of our new Junior officers who were actually elected today a couple of hours ago um at school and um we have Miss um and Mr Han and mrar from the Dess County prrs so we just to put together a little presentation for you um in case you don't know exactly what we do or what we're about this little presentation will give you a little insight okay so we strive to prepare students for leadership and careers in all of the sciences and businesses and technology so we like to incorporate agriculture into all of these different Avenues we are members of future veterinarians entrepreneurs Farmers teachers uh
004researchers and various Professionals in all of the different fields of Agriculture and with FFA we have a vision a mission and a motto and our vision which is set by the National FFA um is to provide the next generation of leaders who will change the world and then our FFA motto is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for Premier leadership professional growth and Career Success Through agricultural educ education and then the FFA motto is learning to do doing to learn earning to live and living to serve so we are very unique at Jan J um we are um we've been nationally recognized since January 2020 so we coming up on our four years we've had multiple winners in career and Leadership competitions some of which are here
005with us tonight um we actually also have a member who has has qualified there's Matthew right here to go to Indianapolis Indiana and he has been chosen to be part of the National FFA choir and he will be singing at the National Convention a couple [Applause] of you so along with all of our competitions we've also attended the New York State F convention for the last couple of years and we've done various agricultural field trips and we've also embraced our enl students of which we have a couple of our enl students with us tonight so what's required to have an FFA chapter because I know a lot of schools are trying to um achieve this and I know Ketchum has um been knocking on our door as well but the main goal is to have
006an agricultural certified teacher and at John J We're very fortunate because myself and Miss s are both New York State agriculturally Certified along with Mr Hancock who has been a retired teacher from John J he also holds his agricultural certification as well we do have an agricultural advisory committee and these are made up of Dutch's County's most influential agriculturist um one again is with us tonight Mr Andy empera he is the CEO of the Dutch County Fairgrounds we [Applause] have we have a DCC Professor we have a veterinarian we have our um Dutchess County Agricultural act Navigator um and many many other more people that are um part of our agricultural Advisory Board and at John J we offer agricultural classes the living environment actually counts as one of those classes but we also have
007plant science and animal science and every year our chapter has to submit What's called the POA and that's a program that activities and that just shows the National FFA and the state FFA exactly what we're doing throughout the year and then all of the students have to submit dues and part of the dues goes to the National SFA State SFA and then our local chapter also we have a lot that we have to do um monitoring of the a which is the agricultural experience tractor this is a new program that the National FFA has been using for the last couple of years and it tracks all the activities that the kids do um that involves Agriculture and it also logs in their experience with the state so it can help them achieve State Awards and
008national awards as time goes on so then we're just going to follow up with a couple of pictures um this is our John J High School freshman orientation so we had a booth uh set up in the cafeteria where the students were handing out information about our chat and talking to the incoming freshman and then we also had Sky who is our little mascot she was outside of the gym under a tent and the students came up to talk to us and then pet sky this is an amazing amazing young lady this is Lindsay mcdna um she grew up in Duchess County 4 with dairy goats and now she's branching out and starting to get into horiculture and she put a display that was was absolutely amazing in the Horticultural building at the fairgrounds and
009she won four blue ribbons so she's an up andc coming star with [Applause] this so within this picture here we are at Adams faer Farms up in pipy uh Sue Adams took us on an amazing tour of their green houses you would never even know that there's about five acres of green houses behind their landscaping and their Machinery um storefronts and she spoke to the kids and explained about their the plant genetics and all the plants that they grow and then the kids went into the floral shop and they were able to purchase some flowers and plants and explore and then the picture on the right is one that we took at our New York state substate competition and a couple more pictures so the one on the left is when we went to Buffalo
010this past spring um in Buffalo we had the New York State FFA convention and we were able to compete in veterinary science this year and um then we attended workshops and went on a bunch of different farm tours and experiences we took the kids to Niagara Falls which was amazing and cold and wet but you had a great time and then um picture on the right is of one of our fundraisers uh we have a local Farm who raises alpacas and llamas and the lady who runs the farm is big into agorism so she gives llama walks and alpaca walks and we went up and helped out one day uh with the tours and with that we'd like to say thank you so much to our board we appreciate all of your support that you
011have given F and we hope to have that continued support as time goes on hi I'm Pat handc um supposedly retired uh um I just want to thank you all again for giving us approval you know we we can't have a chapter unless we get approved by a board of education that means that you guys had to review both of those classes the plant science and the animal science class and give them the green light before we could go ahead uh and that's one of the biggest hurdles that schools have when they want to start a chapter the teacher and it's a minimum of three a three course sequence you can have four five six uh and and a number of schools do around the state um and so we're we're in the beginning and
012I just really appreciate the fact that you saw that what we're doing takes um the classroom stuff that we do in science and it shows the application uh I know for the 20 years that I taught at John J we you know we were always encouraged you know make them lessons memorable make them handson make them practical etc etc I encourage all of you to look into FFA more it's a little bit like peeling it under uh I kind of thought I had an idea of what it was like I mean I went to milber I Knew Pine Plains and FFA forever and it took it took us about a year to feel comfortable with it because you find it's just huge every state in the in the our country has has chapters there's about
013750,000 members I think Nationwide uh the Virgin Islands Puerto Rico also have chapters so it's a it's a big deal and the organization is almost it's coming up on a 100 years um I have a letter here from uh duess butland Westchester Farm Bureau um that I got today says on behalf of Duchess Buton Westchester Farm Bureau I would like to extend a sincere thank you for your efforts to share local agriculture with your neighbors through your Springfest uh that was a fundraising effort that we got off the ground last spring we hope it will be annual the experiences and skills that FFA offers was truly seen by us while attending Future Farmers of America was founded by a group of young farmers in 1928 their mission was to prepare future generations for the challenges
014of feeding a growing population they showed that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting it's a science it's a business it's an art as an organization New York Farm Bureau recognizes the importance of our agricultural youth the New York FFA helped develop leadership skills and provide educational social and community service opportunities for youth we look forward to working with John J FFA in the future and can't wait to see what else the students have in SCH regards Amanda dykman then if you've been to dykman farm over in Pauling that's that's and she is the the secretary for far in this area thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen um as the manager of the Duchess County Fair uh our mission is to promote agriculture in this County um and throughout the state and I'd like
015to commend you for your approval of this process you are one of four chapters in duess County now um and agriculture is the largest industry in New York state always has been and I hope always will be agriculture is not only about milking cows or growing grain there are many many jobs in the industry that children and our County can be involved in this is proof of that when MJ called and said they were working on a chapter here I thought this was the last District that I thought would accomplish that and I am so pleased because you're so far to the south of the county there's not much left here the shanoa farm The Jacksons have been here for Generations um it's I can't tell you how proud We are in the agriculture community
016that you have taken this step um these children are going to bring you um much agulation uh and pride as this program goes forward this is I don't know how to explain it anymore uh the agriculture Community is completely behind this and now red hooks Andes and Pine ples and we will be behind whoever else whatever else school district and the county decides to take on this program we will support thanks very much for your forward thinking thank you hi I'm Emily shre the co-advisor for the FFA and we uh students here prepared a little thank you gift for each of you thank great very proud of could we have the members of the Future Farmers of America and Mr empad Mrs S Mrs McFarland Mr Hancock can you all approach the stage so we
017can get one nice picture come on up please [Music] uh you tell me is it better see direct down yeah right is it better down there or up here yeah I think up there is better for the lighting okay if that's possible come on up to compress everybody a little bit maybe get the board in the middle gets have young thank you for keeping that in mind I never like to commit [Laughter] myself can any of the FFA kids go in the front maybe b or you're young very proud of all of you oh just hold on perfect oh thank you guys this is wonderful thank you so much congratulations great okay thank you than you say thank you president Lumia uh in addition to it being School Board recogn uh recognition week it is
018also school bus safety week one of the most important things that we do the most important thing we do is that we ensure that our students arrive to school safely and get home safely so I would like to remind all those in our community please be safe out there we have our treasured resources all 10,500 of them coming to school every day and I also want to thank our bus drivers for the tremendous job that they do as well let's give them a round of [Applause] applause also I need to thank principal Thompson director bris members of the facilities and operations Department uh for those of you who don't know there was a fire in the village of wengers Falls that occurred uh last Friday uh and speaking with uh Duchess County director of Emergency
019Services be they had indicated that they wanted to utilize wers Junior High School as a shelter we certainly um made that happen I want to thank the board and all of the members of the staff who uh spent portions of their weekend we did have families um staying in the walking's junior high school gym Friday evening Saturday evening and they were there right up until uh early Sunday evening um unfortunately um many of the uh items of those individuals um who lived uh in that complex uh are gone fortunately there was no loss of life thank goodness but um let's keep them in your thoughts um I know that the community uh I know has been rallying to um try to get the word out that uh if anyone is willing uh to assist um
020I didn't ask the president of the rotary but since he's a fellow rotarian uh I would ask that you contact the uh wers Falls rotary or the Rotary Club official um I know that they are working on providing those families uh that are in need so again I want to thank director BR uh principal Thompson and all of the staff that was available during the course of the weekend to assist those in our community that are in need uh that's what we do as principal Thompson says we are wers thank you thank [Applause] you 4.02 budget counter presentation G good evening thank you for the time this evening to start the 2024 budget process uh this evening we will be presenting the budget calendar to the board of education for approval and it is the
021official start of the budget process um this 2425 motto is maximizing resources to benefit our school and Community jumping right into the process we will be having two videos prepared by the superintendent and uh virtually presented one in November and one in February in February there's also a Spanish version that combined the two presentations into one again both virtual presentations all in preparation for the budget vote on May 21st of 2024 our first steps are after the approval of this evening start to formulate equipment requests new Staffing curriculum proposals inservice requests and summer work the next steps and there are quite a few of these compilation and review steps when you're looking at a budget the size of wer Central School District well we were referring to the Board of Education goals which have have
022been set when we build the budget we also utilize the mission statement and core values we have our own administrative goals that are accounted for as we go through this budget we have long-term financial planning that is utilized in building the budget we use prudent estimates as well a lot of the work that we do in the beginning of the process is based on estimates because of the length of time that it takes for us to complete this this budget we um have expectations from the community and want to meet those expectations and that is part of how we formulate our budget we also um utilize Board of Education meetings for Community input we have information sh sharing sessions with the Board of Education we understand the pertinent Revenue sources and the various um areas
023from which we can receive funds as well as general fund um fund balance discussions going forward and also possible referendums that may be added to the ballot those may include a school vehicle purchase or Capital project or any other legal type um legal type item that may require voter approval we accept questions from the Board of Education and the community as we move through the process we utilize our budget email at budget wcsdny y.org that's already active we have attended local town and Village meetings to share the information on the budget process as well as to gather feedback um and we have quarterly municipality meetings one of them is actually tomorrow afternoon at 3M whereas we wherein we gain information gather information from our local municipalities with regard to um projects um that could involve
024student enrollment Etc and we do that with trustee slow shower we have information sharing processes with the community we have videos we have meetings we're always looking to gather as much information and feedback as we can so we can build a budget that meets the needs of our entire Community we do have a state mandated public hearing it is already set and and is on that budget calendar for May 13th of 2024 as we finalize that budget we always look at the the four areas General support instruction transportation and undistributed we'll be saying those component areas quite frequently in the coming months we look at any additional feedback any additional information that we may have received as as far as finalization of numbers in order to make sure we have the most accurate comprehensive budget
025document available we provide near State any information they request through the property tax report card or any fundings of other funding sources that we may have we provide all of this information to the Board of Education in a clear and concise manner we and we always work with our administrative team to refine these data the data points and the estimates that we utilize from the budget from when we're starting today up until the uh budget vote and then we always take the time to reflect on the budgetary process and that I think is spe maybe specifically how the superintendent um comes up with what our slogans are and what we are living by as we had said maximizing resources to benefit our schools of community looking back at the past couple of years and what
026we are now trying to do with what we have available prior year information is always available on our website as well with regards to the budget so just to swing us all into high gear we have that November 6th uh virtual video will be released then you don't hear from us for a little while we'll come back in February and then it's budget Onslaught from February all the way through the community forums and then the budget vote on May 21st we want of course to thank our community without your support we wouldn't be able to move forward and we do appreciate your feedback and do value it as well as everything we receive from report of Education thank you thank you thank you Christian for your hard work appreciate it 4.03 approval of the budget
027development calendar for 2024 vote resolve board education does hereby approve the budget development calendar for the 2024 School District budget vote and board member election as recommended by the assistant superintendent of finance and business development to the superintendent of school motion Mike second ke all in favor unanimous 5.01 public comment on agenda items please not to speak ladies and gentlemen we're about to L the public comment although state law does not require to all upon the coming period we CH to do so because we believe it's crucial for us to hear from our community members about the concerns and issues the board is here to listen the public com period is not design to be a debate or dialogue please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns or questions tonight we take
028your concerns and questions seriously and want have sufficient time to process and research need be any question from the public ship submitted to the use of the public com form which may obtain online or direct at the desk clerk whether the proper set member bet you as appropriate I also want to point out on the state federal privacy laws we're not allowed to address any comments or questions about specific students or School Personnel would ask you to go through the appropriate channels a total 30 minutes at the beginning each meeting to for public comments and agenda items only public comments and agenda items begin limit to only the items in the agenda person who wish to participate in the public period portion meeting are asked to provide the names and specific agenda on which they
029about to speak I she's located in cour into your comend arms limited limited to three minutes and are welcomed if you wish to address items related to our school district that are not on tonight's agenda the coming period provide at the end of the meeting for that purpose a second available with non agenda items in interest and respect of different points of view clapping booing or any disturbance or disruption during either public comment period is not permitted and with that are there any okay thank you uh two communication non by of Education show okay U having multiple jobs this year has curtailed some of my free time to be able to go to sporting events but I was able to attend um a cross country meet at boat Park last week and if you heard
030me in the past you know how much I love good sportsmanship and camaraderie and cross country is another sport where our students students at both high schools support each other and encourage each other and I love standing there at the at the finch line with the two sets of coaches cheering for each athlete by name as they come across the Finish Line I also um want to thank members of royy ketchen interact and National Honor Society who volunteered their time and even stood out in the rain helping uh the town of Walker with Community day last week asot Park their efforts are greatly appreciated anyone else Chad thank you president Lumia uh this past Saturday at our uh we had a multitude of high school students um take the PSAT exam uh we certainly wish
031all of our our students well and um anxiously look forward to uh hopefully hear in news that we have uh qualified National Merit Scholarship uh finalists here in Walker Central School District uh following the PSAT um I spent uh a rainy Saturday afternoon um at the uh at the John J field um quite candidly the outcome of the John J royy catch from field hockey game uh was unpopular at my home um but congratulations to both teams on outstanding um um outstanding sportsmanship uh all around and congratulations uh to the catching team on their hardfought and welld deserved one- nothing Victory thank you anyone else just a couple of things couple things first to congratulate Dominic for delivering the winning sa goal in overtime against Arlington the score was one to another real real Roos
032CCH I want to wish our students were involved in the winter Circle project success in the Career Tech and business education in their attempt to build and market a cobra vehicle I think I think Mr Spencer will try to like to buy that I think every buil as a former cross country coach at rck I want to congratulate both conip and Abby kic for the many accomplishments and many meets Cross Country meets and for being nominated for athletes of the week as superintendent mentioned i' like to thank Mr zip Mr Brooks Mr BR Bros Mary fredon Chris Ard and Ron Stevens for being at the W and helping the parents the people who lost basically all their all their home lost their home and everything I also want to thank uh Mr Mike mcin for
033providing food breakfast and lunch to those people so thank you Mike for all your effort so so thank you for and of course I like to thank the [Applause] superintendent like to thank the superintendent for quickly acting to approve the rec R's request for us the house those people who lost their homes and what jior high thank you T that being said next I have on the agenda is coming report so first chair first I to thank uh Eddie for stealership on the on the committee as well as Mike and Marie they do a great great great job so said Eddie go thank you president Lumia so as mentioned uh trusty McFarland trusty Johnson and uh president Lumia participate in the committee as well as a community member uh vir cerity as well as a
034director of facilities and our lead architect so at the last meeting Miss Johnson had given uh everyone pretty much an update based on the board building tours um I'm just going to hit on a couple of things I don't want to repeat too much of what she said but just to let everybody know for Fishkill Plains Elementary uh we're just doing some uh last minute punch list items thankfully while the flooring is in which was a huge job as well as new Cabinetry uh we still working on some issues with uh the hbac program uh for that particular building as well as some electrical upgrades uh for John J High School obviously everyone's aware we had a major repair of the roof that's completed just again some punch list items that should be handled by
035the end of this month uh also the uh District roof uh where uh district offices is housed that roof was completely shot that was uh completely renovated again just some minor punch list items there site work at Oak Grove Elementary again is completed not can't to be repetitive just have some minor punch list items wers Junior High also site work is completed with some minor punch list items also at wers Junior High we're still anticipating the delivery of our brand new Auditorium seating we should be in by the end of this month uh so if we do receive rece it hopefully by December 1 uh the auditorium will be ready for use uh by the building just also let people know we did uh want to install a brand new uh Soul shed uh ATK
036uh we're still waiting for delivery um again just some issues with uh you know I keep saying we always have this problem where there's always problems with you know the chain this thing could be floating somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean somewhere but uh hopefully not uh John J again just running back to John J we did have part of the project for phase one to increase seating on the football field for bleachers again a little bit behind uh just because of uh you know supply chain issues as well as sound systems for both uh the football fields for John J and rck plan is to have all of that delivered by the spring and inall uh and hopefully we'll be ready for graduation and then obviously for next school year couple other minor things
037uh that has been a bit of an issue uh with the fields at Wes Junior High the board and Senior staff and the superintendent are well aware of the flooding issues uh we are working with the village of Wagers to come up with a solution to that unfortunately is not going to be an immediate overnight uh solution um there's some issues uh with the um catch basins on Maple Street where we have to involve the village and they need to do some work before able to tie in and do some runoff um in the meantime the district is working on a temporary solution hopefully uh if the weather uh is uh Cooperative we may be able to get that started um so that the fields can be used but again just need the community to
038be patient we're well aware of the flooding situation that occurs there but there's many components and there's many things that are involved uh but we are working with the village uh to resolve it so we just ask for your patience uh and that would be greatly appreciated and uh for phase two project which is going start for next summer those plans have been s up for review for S hopefully we'll have the results back shortly so we can then move ahead uh and start going out the viid for projects for next summer let you do it for right now thanks thank you uh next is uh chairman Mor for the great work that he does so thank you president the full audit committee met on September 27th uh thanks to trusty Johnson trusty odms uh
039yourself president L as an ex official member Our Community member Christine Silva and uh assistant superintendent Dy uh we approved the draft audit report uh that was presented to the committee and has since been presented to the Board of Education was um uh presented by the Bondo group and approved at our last full board meeting um we are also reviewing and this will be an ongoing item uh request for proposal uh for the uh for the external auditor uh position thank you last but not least un State School Board Association Board of Academy um forward thank you again uh this was a 4-Hour training session uh that President L and myself attended virtually on October 6th um there was a great deal of time spent uh on board procedures and best practices um and viewing
040this this presentation over the course of several hours really confirmed at least uh for for the two of us that our board's procedures um are meeting the outline best practices and uh the president L and I certainly agree that we are blessed as a board of education to be served by Miss Pedro as our clerk so thank you for uh all of your work to keep us on track [Applause] this um items of interest uh had to do with agenda setting um and cautions to assure that board of education business um is uh is all that makes it onto the um agenda setting and being aware of what is appropriate Board of Education business and what is the purview of the superintendent and the superintendent's uh Team uh examples that were given during the training
041including um uh board uh board involvement in details of uh of curriculum um additionally uh resisting the temptation to micromanage was uh was also uh cautioned against examples of this given during the presentation including uh giving direct direction to Administration um other than the superintendent whether that be wer Central School District uh why or even building level um Administration um given that that the um the board's uh so um uh employee really is the is the superintendent of schools and that concludes my report on that training thank you thank you John and I think I asked m p if possible we get the actual presentation so all the board members could see exactly what is was appropriate not appropriate so I don't know if get a chance to do that so thank you CH for
042the report 6.01 consent agenda resolution I know that anybody want to pull anything the agenda see none thank you resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the following consent agenda items as stated 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6 .07 6.08 6.09 6.10 and 6.11 motion chery second Jim all in favor unanimous business 7401 approval of the revised external audit financial statements resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the revised annual audit and financial statements from the bond deal group for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2023 motion second all those in favor anoun 7.02 resolution approving the establishing and funding of the ERS retirement contribution Reserve whereas the wer Central School District participates in the New York State and local Employees Retirement Systems and whereas section 6 R of the general
043Municipal law permits school districts to establish a retirement contribution Reserve fund to appropriate amounts necessary to fund a school district's contribution to ERS be it resoled of the Board of Education of the wer Central School District or of Education pursuant to the provisions of section 6r of the general municipal Municipal law hereby establishes an Employee Retirement contribution Reserve fund for the purpose of financing retirement contributions to ERS here and after the ERS retirement contribution Reserve fund and be it further resolved that the Board of Education hereby authorizes the sum of 2,778 619 be appropriated from undesignated Surplus amounts in the 2023 2024 general fund and deposited into said ERS retirement contribution Reserve fund and hereby directs the district officer having custody of the district Monies to invest the monies deposited in the ERS retirement contribution
044Reserve fund sub subject to applicable restrictions imposed under Section 6 R of the general Municipal law second all those in favor unan 7.03 resolution approving The Establishment resolution 7.03 resolution approving the establisher in funding of the TRS retirement contribution Reserve fund whereas the wer Central School District participates in the New York State teachers retirement system TRS and whereas the Board of Education of the wer Central School District by resolution has previously established a retirement contribution Reserve fund pursuant to section 6r of the general Municipal law ERS retirement contribution Reserve fund and whereas section 6r of the general Municipal law permits school districts to establish a subf fund within the ERS retirement contribution Reserve fund to appropriate amounts necessary to fund a school district's contribution to the TRS now therefore be it resolved that the Board
045of Education of the wer Central School District pursuant to sub section 6r of the General Municipal law hereby establishes a subf fund within the ERS retirement contribution Reserve fund TRS retirement contribution Reserve subf fund to be funded each fiscal year initially from undesignated general fund balance for the 2023 2024 school year in the amount of 1,470 th074 representing 2% of the salaries paid to teachers as that term is defined under Section 501 14 of the education law who were employed by the district on a full-time basis and who were members of TRS during the 20122 2023 school year and in subsequent fiscal years by annual budgetary Appropriations up to the amount not to exceed 2% of the total salaries paid during the immediately preceding fiscal year to all teachers as the term is defined under
046Section 5014 of the education law who were employed by the district on a full-time basis and are members of TRS motion Carol second any John all of those in favor unanimous thank 7.04 approval of new club charge resolve that the board of education does hereby approve the following new first year Club Charters as submitted the John J High School United Club the royy ketum high school other music club and the royy ketum high school UNICEF Club okay second uh Jim all those in favor unanimous some of these calls are excellent and if you read the charter UNF Club I think that they're really really exceptional clubs to wish you success 7 105 approval of intermunicipal agreement resolve that the board of ation of the wer Central School District do hereby approve the intermunicipal agreement between
047the wer Central school district and the town of Fishkill as stated a copy of the agreement will be placed on file with the district CK motion and a second Mike hold favor unanimous 7.06 approval of extension Amendment agreement between the who Central School District and a Dutchess County Sheriff [Music] Department be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby approves the extension Amendment agreement to the school resource officer SRO intermunicipal agreement for the period July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2024 by and between the district the county of Duchess and The Duchess County Sheriff's Office and authorizes the superintendent of schools to execute the extension Amendment intermunicipal agreement on behalf of the district a copy of said extension Amendment inter Municipal agreement will be placed on file with the district per motion Mike second hey
048in favor before we go to the next superintendent that thank you president Lumia as we always State the Safety and Security of our staff and students is our top priority remains our top priority and I would personally like to thank sheriff and parate members of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office uh as well as uh Tom East fish kill supervisor dandro um for providing us with school resource officers uh we have seven municipalities here within our district so just to give you a little uh idea as to how it works royy Ketchum and wers Junior High School has a school resource officer Through The Duchess County Sheriff's Office John J high school and Van white Junior High School has a school resource officer through the town of East fish kill in addition to that that is
049not part of this agreement as we have shared and our commitment to safety our elementary schools also have uh uniform police offers police officers in the schools at various times during the school days we believe that that coupled with the 12 mental health professionals that we've added over the last two years gives us a solid foundation to be able to work with our students that are suffering from mental health issues and just having a difficult time coping with issues throughout our society so again I want to thank Sheriff empera I want to thank supervisor dandro and all of our Municipal officials I also need to also thank our um our school psychologists and our counselors as well for doing an exceptional job under some very very difficult circumstances thank you thank you 7.07 approval of
050the Dutch's educational health insurance consum trust agreement whereas the wer Central School District is a particip participant in The Duchess educational health insurance Consortium dehe and whereas the Board of Trustees of DEC has approved a revised trust agreement to clarify certain Provisions in the original trust agreement and ensure the continued effective operation of deck now therefore due deliberation having been had be it resolved one that the wer Central School District hereby agrees to the NIT the amendment of the dhit trust agreement as proposed by De hit's Board of Trustees that Dr White Bon superintendent of schools B and is hereby authorized to execute the attached Amendment trust agreement effective as of January 1st 2024 three that a copy of the resolution be prepared and sent along with the executed trust agreement to deits Attorneys at
051the following address gon dun Walsh and OA 40 Beaver Street Aly New York 12203 attention Thomas F gon Esquire Richard C Riley Esquire Mo Mike second Eddie all those in favor unanimous and now we have another long resolution John doing a great job 7.08 resolution RC high school and W Jor High change team and mcot names whereas on April 18th 2020 three the board of regions unanimously voted to adopt part 1 two3 of the regulations of the commissioner of Education relating to the prohibition of the use of indigenous team names mascots and logos by public schools the mascot discontinuance regulations and whereas the mascot discontinuance regulations became effective as of May 3rd 2023 and whereas the mascot discontinuation discontinuance excuse me regulations require among other things that public school districts adopt a resolution by the
052end of the 2022 2023 school year identifying a plan to commit to eliminate the use of all indigenous names Locos and mascots by the end of the 2024 2025 school year and whereas the New York State education department has issued written guidance addressing the mascot discontinuance regulations which advises that school boards that refuse to comply with the mascot discontinuance regulations may be subject to removal proceedings by the commissioner of Education or the withholding of state aid and whereas on June 20th 2023 in accordance with the mascot discontinuance regulations the Board of Education of the ler Central School District adopted a resolution committing to a plan to eliminate the use of all indigenous names logos and mascots across all public schools within the district by the end of the 2024 2025 school year in a manner
053as recommended by the superintendent of schools which plan included but was not limited to a process to change the inter Scholastic athletic team names and mascots of the one royy Ketchum high school and two waters junior high school and whereas in accordance with the plan the student body of royy Ketchum high school has voted on changing its inner Scholastic athletic team names to the masc and mascot T kns and where are in accordance with the plan the student body of wers junior high school has voted on changing its inter Scholastic athletic team names and mascot to Wild Cats now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the watter Central School District hereby approves the change to the following inter Scholastic athletic team names and mascots the royy ketum high school inter Scholastic
054athletic teams and mascot shall be known henceforth as the knights the waters Junior High School interest classic athletic teams in Mascot shall be known henceforth as the wild cats and be it further resolved that the Board of Education authorizes policy number e.1 regarding the official marks of royc Ketchum high school and Waters Junior High School to be modified in a manner consistent with the adopted changes in in the inter Scholastic team names and mascots for those two schools motion Mike second okay any discussion yes Sheriff okay I hate to do this because like everyone else I want to see this resulted and ended um I want to commend both student governments for the deliberation that they put into their process of determining these names and while I wholeheartedly support the wild cats mascot for wers
055junior high I have some deep reservations about the CH Knights for um royy ketchen and I'd like you to just listen to what I have to say if you do some research into the political and social pressures behind the history of mascot changes in this country everything is a move to remove demeaning stereotypes cultural appropriation and also to remove references to oppressors of groups um NCAA before we got into the high schools of being pressured to change their mascots the NCAA removed all Native American mascots and logos with the exception of five schools that were given um permission by specific Native American groups they were tied to now while kns are something that are an interest of mine both in my literary studies and my historical studies if you Knights and Crusaders are the two
056biggest um mascot names that are under Fire in the NCAA right now holy cross just recently while keeping its name Crusaders through the time being has preemptively removed its night logo um the argument that I see in literature that I've been reading is that when you look at goals of diversity equity and inclusion the knights are a group of of white men who are known for oppressing other cultures uh when we look at the news today and what's happening in the Middle East one of the things that the knights are known for is the Crusades which was an attempt to go into the Middle East and take back um specific places from the Muslims in the area also um like many of you parents students and um staff members have engaged me in conversation about
057the mascot change and I want to go back to one conversation with a parent that I've known for years who has children of color in the district who is a parent who had a visceral reaction the day that the banners with the KKK um you know the the three katchen logos uh were hanging on the drive when she brought her child to school and can I can I just yeah interject for a minute I think it's important to note that that happened for principal site maybe about 10 minutes oh I know I know but I think it's important that the community understands since it's been raed how long ago did that happen principal site8 years ago that happened 8 years ago it lasted for how long under six minutes under how long six 6 minutes
058and it was removed correct and and why was it there it was it was it was an error correct yes okay I I just want to state that for the record no and and I appreciate that but this is a parent who had children in the school then has children in the school now and the one comment that this parent made to me is that they hope that there would be nothing that would be reflective of that hurt that the family went through during that that time and if you look the um the actual name of Klux Clan are the white kns of the Klux Clan and so anyone who has any racist or Insidious um bias could use that against the against the greater Ketchum community and so I have real reservations about the
059name lights any other comments all the resolution as it stands take individual VES and all in favor of of the name associated with J High favor make a split the resolutions to adopt one for the and one for R for all those favor of the name associated with the wait was there a second on your motion second my motion all in favor now being said let's go on to the vote how many in favor of the name as adopted by the W Junior High School unanimous all those in favor of the name adopted by RC High School okay the name is not adopted I like to a com I I want to see the no votes please no votes no votes on okay all those no votes please Jim Jim Spencer Keith andk I just
060like to make a make comment on that we gave the authority to the students to pick a name the students picked a name and it seems to me we're against we're going against what the students pick I understand what one the trusty state but it seems to me the students pick their name and I don't think they Associated any negative when they pick that particular name but obviously people think there's some negativity associated with it so the Motions not pass I guess roosi K has to go back to the drawing boards so sorry for that but that's okay that's that's a case yeah if I could just ask the board if the board can come up with some type of a document and recommendations to how they would like the district to proceed moving forward
061since this resolution has been defeated uh this has been an issue that has been on the table for as long as I've been here 13 years and I understand the position what I don't understand is it's now being expressed now and it was never expressed before for this meeting to me to me and I wish and I wish that someone had come to me and shared this concern and then maybe we could have had a conversation and maybe we could have talked about it further as opposed to having to go through this have the students vote the names and now here we are and I I I just would ask the board for some direction in regards as to how to move forward John I think that's perfectly reasonable uh request Dr B given that
062the purview of the board of education is to is to set policy and give direction to you uh we will we will work to have a resolution um on the um on the agenda in the near future providing uh providing that direction thank you and comments yes Joe I just want to say that it's not just for the basis of the statements that I made that I'm taking taking this step um as I said when you look at the totality of what's going on in this social justice movement in the country with mascot names I have a nagging feeling especially from Rumblings that I'm hearing from ALB that if we were to adopt the knights as the retum mascot we would be going through millions of dollars of changes to Rebrand again in another couple
063of years as I say I understand that and I respect that I just wish that I had KNN about it prior to this vote Eddie Eddie just my own personal opinion I I would like to see the students uh take a look at uh some names that would continue to honor uh the wer tribe U for 60 years that's been something the school has done to to honor uh the waper Indian and and The Descendants and the family members that still live in the community um and it's been something that the school has done since it was it was built and created so I would my personal opinion I would like to see the student body come up with a name that would continue to honor uh the local tribe but that's just my opinion
064well we'll come up with a resolution for the next board agenda okay so it's good time being thank you for your comments on to the next topic is 7.09 second reading of the adoption of policy resolved that the Board of Education of the wat 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 policy committee as state motion motion Mike second any all those in favor unanimous 7. 7.10 approval of retire policies resolve that the board of education does hereby the does hereby retire the following policies after review by the school district's attorney and as recommended by the members of the policy committee effective October 17 2023 go ahead sorry sorry for the pause a011 0.1r examples of unacceptable
065conduct or moved from the regulation into the policy the regulation is no longer needed and B zero 110.2 are the policy now includes a grievance procedure the regulation is no longer needed motion M second Jim all those in favor unanimous uh 8.01 board members May request addition agenda hon discussion I would like to propose um an addition to the uh to the agenda I second that all those in [Applause] favor item 8.03 8.03 yes resolution to adopt last deny superintendent findings penalty session 3214 appeal be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby confirms the finding of fat and penalty recommendation of the superintendent of schools dated October 4th 2023 regarding student 10623 will be a further resolve that the board president is hereby authorized to sign the board determination letter on behalf of the
066Board of Education and be it further resolved that the district clerk is hereby authorized to mail the board determination letter to the students parents motion make a motion John second Jim all those in favor unanimous communication from the public is there any comments from the public I yes I ky yes sir you got the floor thank you uh appreciate your time let me uh like I said I appreciate your time to you know let me speak at all this uh I do live in the school district I'm a taxpayer um I'm a huge proponent of the um aspect of sports and Athletics and you know childhood development and all that I played basketball in college as well as you know I had a lot of opportunities had a lot of great coaches throughout my uh
06715 years of playing um your mission statement on the Walker Central School District for athletics is that Athletics have had a significant influence on American culture and society and enjoy a unique status in the American value system uh you as a walker School District take great pride in uh your athletic programs they are an integral part of the Walk Central School District educational program and are organized to meet needs and interests of your student uh I'm not going to name any names um there is a coach in your school district that is the best coach you have that was allowed to coach last year for a program in John J uh he was allowed to coach the whole year had no um complaints formal complaints any questions or the parents are that nature um he
068recently was offered a position with for a another um uh football program within the district and then 10 days afterwards he was advised that he was no longer allowed to uh coach within the school district um he was not given any reason why he or anything of that nature everyone that he spoke to stated that it was a one year policy even though after these sir as much I like to listen you cannot benally Sports identify you identify specific person so please that's that's not acceptable sorry I said I was I thought it was a question and answer but okay um he was he was he was given the once again he basically black old from that he wasn't given a reason why he was allowed to do well well my may suggest is you
069have concerns please contact the district offic I'm sure you have to go call the a director and if that go from New go to the superintendent I'm sorry but what if the athletic director doesn't have an answer what is what if the athletic director has provided go superintendent superintendent right there correct make an appointment I'm sorry about you and I will tell you I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to so I understand that's why here um like I said you know listen I appreciate your time and all that and obviously hopefully I can sit down with a superintendent to figure out what it is because uh it's a false allegation of what's going on and once again there's nothing back to prove it so I'm just here to voice my opinion as a
070taxpayers so if you can leave your information with Miss Pedro yep we'll contact you within the next 24 hours and we'll set the meeting but again I I'm not aware of the issue that that you're sharing but I look forward to speaking with you thank you thank you for your time sure I make a motion to adjourn resolve that the board of education does hereby adjourn the October 16th 2023 Board of Education meeting time is 8:46 p.m. motion Mike second J more favor night