001ready editor James Pelton and Ronald Patterson I pledge allegiance of the United States [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you ladies and gentlemen we are about to listen to public yeah okay thank you thank you Miss Pedro what's up we have brought back the spotlight on program which we're all very pleased about and this evening we have two of our professional developers Mr John salmon and Miss Tara Kohler we have been working very diligently in establishing Partnerships with members of our community with businesses with local government towns municipalities and tonight you're going to hear of a very very successful partnership that we have with Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center and Mr Cole excuse me uh Mrs Kohler and Mr salmon were instrumental in putting this project together as well as students from
002Fishkill Plains and Roy C Ketchum high school and with that Mrs Kohler Mr salmon the floor is yours okay thank you so we have a presentation that we'll speak to briefly um you might we'll go through it I'm sorry is that better there yeah thank you thank you so we have a presentation that we're going to run through briefly um to highlight the project that we worked on so the project did include Dr Bach had mentioned Fishkill Plains and Royce Ketchum there was also Oak Grove Elementary so happy little accidents was a partnership with Manhattan Regional taking Collision Course it included kindergarten grade four and high school um we would like to acknowledge obviously the school board and Senior staff at Wappingers for valuing the professional development positions that we actually have within the school
003district and the opportunities that we get to give to the students Within so the professional development team will go through this a little bit quicker involves various individuals that had supported us in the work that we were doing but we'd like to specifically go to the next page where we can highlight the actual buildings and the building principles and the teachers that were supporting us so you can see from Fishkill Plains from Oak Grove and for racy Ketchum the principles that were involved in the Educators that were working with us as we facilitated this project within the school district and then of course we have the individual swimming Hudson Regional that were supporting us and with the Outreach um that we're in constant contact with as we're working through this so how did this begin
004um over the past four years Mr salmon and I have worked with Mr Bliss at Roy CK having his manufacturing class fabricate final products what we did this year was We leveled it up for our students and our district by taking the product to be public which went to Mid-Hudson Regional and you'll see what that final product was but we also leveled it up for our high schoolers where we gave them nine potential project-based learning experiences that they could choose from that we knew were in alignment with our elementary science curriculum and they were able to vet through the nine choices and they pick something that was meaningful to them that was high interest for them while being in alignment with the constraints of material and time at rck so whenever we deliver project-based learning
005we ground it in a real world experience for the children so it's learning that goes out to the real world they're finding the relevance in their learning and how it connects to various jobs and things of that nature so in this particular case we started off we delivered the storyline to the students we were explaining to them what they would have to do where they were going to be creating a Rube Goldberg machine and collaborating with each other as well as Community Partners and then it was going to be delivered there as a donation gift to the children's Ward at Mid-Hudson Regional the new department that they're building there it's an extension of Maria Ferrari so we utilize the physical science Concepts that included pushes and pulls and collisions and we work through prototyping and
006then ultimately we went into the design thinking process where students were collaborating with each other and the Community Partners in the design and so The Learning Journey began with the kindergarten and fourth graders um seeing a video a scientific phenomena of a Rube Goldberg machine and from there the students on their own develop questions what do I need to know so that I can make one of these so we can make one of these and donate it to the hospital and so their need to know questions were Revisited throughout the experience um and there was great opportunity for the kindergarteners and fourth graders to collaborate as they investigated their scientific Concepts through many different lessons so The Learning Journey continued as the kids developed their knowledge within the science-based um addressing their need to know
007questions and ultimately what they did was we went into the design thinking process where they were fabricating their own group Goldberg machines for themselves um we ultimately did the brainstorming and some of the prototyping in the classrooms and then went home you can see the picture in the center where they were doing it at home with their families and then they were making videos within flipgrid and they were recording themselves and then bringing that back into school so their teachers could take a look at their original designs and their unique work and so we were able to connect with families um by those videos being sent in some use flip grids some some videos um we were able to use Google meet as a way to connect with Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital multiple times where we
008would get all um five classrooms on the same Google meet with Mid-Hudson Regional hospital and um and then the high schoolers communicated using flipgrid because the timing of their secondary schedule was a little tricky with our Elementary schedule so the great part about this is that those students created their videos of flipgrid and then they shared them and we actually shared them with all of our high school students so our high schoolers actually vetted through 91 unique videos that our elementary students made as inspiration for what they were ultimately going to design and be donating and so you can see here some of the original pictures of the teachers working through with the students but what was great was the high schoolers were calling out the elementary students by name like Emily we loved how
009you utilize this in your design so they took commonalities among all the elementary student designs and that was the inspiration for what they ultimately fabricated and so final production so this Learning Journey began last December where students were working through their science lessons and it took from December through June for it to culminate and we were so lucky that we were able to have our elementary students take a field trip to rck where you'll see the pictures of them up there they got to see the final product they got to put their hands on it and it was a great opportunity for the high schoolers to see how durable their final product was because you had roughly 90 students putting their hands on it interacting with it playing with it so if there were any
010mishaps they were able to be worked out but sure enough the machine was able to handle 90-something students interacting with it which was awesome it also afforded these students an opportunity to see what the classrooms look like there working through the metal work using the CNC router machines and the high school students were wonderful as they um you know were the safety goggles all the kids did and they were able to see um you know what the machine What machines were used to fabricate the final product so Mr Bliss is obviously going to be having an influx of fourth grade students when they get to joining his technology class so the big reveal happened over the summer on July 14th um Dr Bonk was there Mr McFarland was there we had various students and staff
011that attended as well there were high or I'm sorry the hospital Executives that were there so they're developing um it was supposed to be in late spring early summer but with all construction now obviously push it out they're going to be bringing a Maria Ferrari extension up to Mid Hudson Regional in our location and so this Rube Goldberg is going to be a donation that goes to um students from our or children from our community who are going to the hospital for various circumstances so it's a pleasant distraction for the sick children that will be there and it was created by Wappinger Central School District children um we have Publications that came out from Mid-Hudson Regional themselves in southern Duchess newspaper and then obviously you can see the picture of the final product there in
012one of their conference rooms with the various teachers and students alike that were there and of course Dr Brown looks fantastic up in the top corner there very proud and like Mr salmon said at the beginning you know we can't thank this board of education and Central Administration for valuing the job that we get to do with our school community and you know at large our community in general so thank you so much and so um Mid-Hudson Regional I after our meeting with them that day here in the building after meeting with them that day they want to continue the partnership and so it's something that we'll be working with them on a regular basis um talking with Mr Bliss about various things that we can fabricate the elementary students and what various projects we
013can align to their current science curriculum and mass curriculums um and we're going to continue this partnership moving forward so we're really excited and they're very excited to be working with us as well yes thank you [Applause] I'm proud of both of you the district is very fortunate to have individual like yourself working with our students as well as our teachers so I can't express I'm grateful we are to have you guys working and thank you for such a great project so fortunate to see you happy here because obviously graduated I wish it could be it eventually shared this experience this is for the first of many highlights that we're going to be presented during the year thank you very much [Applause] 4.01 public comments and agenda items ladies and gentlemen we were about to
014listen to public comment although state law does not require us to hold a public comment period we 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 sufficient time to process and research issues if need be any questions for the public should be submitted through the use of the public comment form which may be obtained online or at the desk with the district clerk we will have the proper staff member get back to you as appropriate I also
015want to point out that under state and federal Privacy Law us we are unable to address any comments or questions about specific students or School Personnel we would ask you to go through the appropriate administrative channels a total of 30 minutes at the beginning of each board meeting is set aside to allow for public comments on agenda items only public comment at the beginning of the meeting is limited to items on the agenda persons who wish to participate in the public comment portion of the meeting are asked to provide their name and the specific agenda item about which they wish to speak individual comments on agenda items is limited to three minutes and are welcome if you wish to address items relating to our school district that are not on tonight's agenda another comment period
016is provided at the end of the meeting for that purpose in the interest of Civility and respect for different points of view clapping booing or any disturbance or disruption during either public comment period is not permitted at this time comments related to agenda items are welcome if anybody wants a comment please come forward to comment on agenda items okay see none 4.2 communication announcements received by the Board of Education anything anybody well nobody was very good job I'm sorry go ahead John I [Music] I just wanted to uh mention that um I was speaking with an administrator from another school district uh over the weekend um and they just commented based on reports that that they heard um how well it reflected on our school district to have um I I don't know what the
017attendance was but I'll say a um tightly packed campus at John Jay on Friday evening and it was just a very positive reflection on our students in our district um that there were um that behavior was Behavior was excellent I just wanted to share that with the board anyone else I'd like to concur that I happen to be at the John Jay game Friday night there's over 4 000 students were there people there that were extremely well behaved a very proud of both schools for their behavior really really good and also I'd like to remind parents that this week about the Millers in the enhanced program math programs is starting the the schools that are participating are Myers Fisher planes break off Oak and shoes of parents I would encourage you to get involved in
018this program I think it's one of the best programs that's the benefit that's for students they love mathematics that makes them think it's very important so please see if you can get your kids to participate in such a fantastic program again the school's on Myers physical planes break off Oak and chief anyone else Marie just to let everyone know we do have a community Communications committee coming up this Thursday evening five o'clock at District office reports policy Peggy killing all right to follow up on that we also have a policy committee meeting this Wednesday at five o'clock at district office the public is welcome to attend we did meet in September the we received some policy updates from the state that we looked over and our attorneys felt that we were already in good position
019and did not need to make changes on those things aside from some minor grammatical matters we also continued our three-year cycle of reviewing all our policies we're again starting at the beginning of the policy manual and we're doing the first part this year and again there were only grammatical changes that were made and they are up for first and second reading you'll see on on the agenda foreign so just to keep things going with uh committee meetings the capital Improvement committee has a meeting this Wednesday morning at 9 30 at the rck annex of course like all the other committee is open to the public if anybody wants to uh come and watch uh a few items our big energy performance project with ameresco were the solar we do have two buildings that are up
020and running which is Vassar Road and James Evans our other five schools we have and I said not real hiccups we're just waiting for some additional parts and things to come in and testing that has to be done by Central Hudson so what I'd like to do is just kind of skip over that and hopefully by November December when all that is done can kind of just do one real report on on the solo project for the entire District but we do have a solar up and running at like as I said at Vassar Road and at Evans Elementary High School our Focus really at the last meeting it was just a quick recap of our summer projects which I've mentioned uh those are all uh pretty much 99 done just waiting for a couple
021of couple of minor things to come in uh some railings for Myers corner and John Jay we anticipate that in and installed at some point this month um can still continue work at John Jay with regards to the uh new student drop off in roundabout again is they are still anticipating having that done uh by the end of November so fingers are crossed from that standpoint uh we're just waiting for some light poles and some other things to come in to to finish off portion of the student drop-off uh our other main focus was our new capital project moving forward that the taxpayers approved at the last election uh plans are being drawn up by our Architects we anticipate those plans being submitted to SED at some point uh this month just again to let
022everybody know uh it's about 47 weeks for approval so we are anticipating having these projects out to bid hopefully by next April May and then commence on the next phase of improvements for next summer that will include uh also the monies that we receive the federal aid with regards to uh improving the HVAC systems so those plans are also going to go up um with the architect's plans to State education department and again our first building with regards to some upgrades for the HVAC and air conditioning is Fishkill Plains Elementary since most of our special education summer program is held there with regards to some in-house projects we had received some Communications from some community members with regards to the walkway that connects Evans and this school walk Junior in the back that's an in-house
023project that's currently being repaired so we would anticipate I would say hopefully in the next 30 to 60 days that will be uh completely taken care of and that walkway will have some access for students and parents to go back and forth uh let's just see what our minor item so uh the other thing we talked about is our welding booths at both of the junior high schools for that vocational project some tables and certain things we're still waiting for to come in we're almost completed again we hope to have those rooms ready and up and running shortly and then we can commence with the full scale on the welding program at both of the junior high schools and that should pretty much do it so it's like Mike thank you discussion [Music] present the
024Mid-Hudson area in a round table with the New York State Commissioner of education at the news but that's New York State School boards Association headquarters up in Latham New York it was pretty exciting there were about 20 of us from different school boards around the state and we were seated in a hollow rectangle and since this place does alphabetically by school districts a got to sit next to the commissioner and so did Wappingers W so I got to chat with her staff and with the commissioner herself during all the breaks which was very good uh so I tried to get across our situations and problems here the top the talk was the state assessments and first of all of course we had input from the commissioner and her staff they said that p-tech Pathways Early
025College Etc they would like to see become the norm not the exception that thinking in terms of pre-k through 20 p through 20 which would be through college not just K through 12 to better align all the educational development that students receive and that they feel that they're trying to make it more individualized and more appropriate for all sorts of different students not lowering standards the commissioner was very far around that she said she had worked hard herself and she hoped that everybody else would too to the best of their ability okay they said that the primary purpose of Assessments is improving student learning training the mind to think knowledge is important imagination is the Superstar and so they're looking for multiple assessments not a single story the New York State tests are in order
026to identify gaps and direct resources better to the students that need it and the schools that need it uh when we we spoke about it when that it became our opportunity to talk um uh I think most of us the approach this the same way she was said they were going to do that not every particular assessment is right for every student and that uh rigid testing requirements and standards are not always appropriate there should be room for exceptions variations that teachers uh should not be judged on the outcomes of their students because it discourages teachers from taking on difficult students and that instead we should be looking at the uh the Improvement the students make not so much on a bell curve but how much that student has improved rather than where they fit
027on a predetermined scale so it was very rewarding and I hope that they do follow through on what they're saying and make these uh tests better we also pointed out that getting the test results back so late hinders us from finding out from using the tests to improve teaching and to reach individual children's problems they said they're working on that but it seems kind of strange when we as I pointed out back when we teachers used to Mark our own tests we had the results the next day and here they send them out and it takes months so those supposedly doing in the computerized way in many cases and it's hard to understand why it takes so long so they said they're working on it we hope so thank you thank you for the report
0285.01 superintendent report that the pockets all yours thank you president Lumia uh I like vice president calendar also had an opportunity to meet with some State Education Department officials over the past couple of weeks and I am pleased to report that I believe that they understand that you can no longer determine whether or not a child graduates or not based on a three-hour Regents exam I am pretty confident they're looking more toward a portfolio type of system where there will be multiple assessments we all know that all students learn but they don't learn in the same manner into the same degree we all know that testing does not necessarily measure how knowledgeable a student is about a specific course it basically tells you how knowledgeable they are about what is on the test so uh
029I also like vice president Cowan uh was was very pleased from what I heard from the state education department I also believe that you're going to see a continued emphasis on Career vocational and Technical education and uh preparing students for um society today which is much different than it was 5 10 15 years ago Society has changed businesses have changed and education's got to move along with it so I'd like to uh comment on that which I found to be very very positive in addition to that the individual that is sitting to my left board President John Lumia who is not feeling tremendous this evening but he looks tremendous doesn't he look great better than I did in the picture and I'd like to thank all of the staff for photoshopping that picture of me
030up there I the check the check is in the mail that photoshopped that picture yes yes so this evening um president Lumia it is it is my honor to present you with the New York State School boards Association board Achievement Award for participation in the New York State School boards Association leadership development training and this is signed by the president Patty zugabe and the executive director Robert Schneider so with that Mr Lumia congratulations thank you and that concludes my report anyway thank you anything else anybody want to remove anything from the cassette agenda no but I'd just like to make a comment I'm sorry I I don't want to remove but I just like to make comments I'd just like to make a comment it's it's really good to see um those overnight field trips
031back on the consent agenda it just means that things are getting back to normal you know we our teachers and faculty and staff do a great job of educating our kids in the classroom there's also education that goes on outside of the classroom and I really appreciate seeing that on the consent agenda so thank you for coming Spencer go ahead he's off the board of education is hereby approved 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 6.11 and 6.12 motion Marie second begin all in favor unanimously if I could I'd just like to comment on item 6.07 the approval of extension Amendment agreement between the Wappingers Central school district and the Dutchess County Sheriff's Department as you know the safety of our students and staff is our
032top priority and I would like to thank sheriff imperati and the sheriff's office for working with us and and placing two school resource officers uh one at Wappingers Junior High School which is new and one at Roy C Ketchum High School in addition to that we are working you've probably seen if you've looked at the list a number of contracts with our local police departments they are in our school buildings at points during the school day we can't release when they're there that kind of defeats the purpose of it but they are working with us to ensure that our schools are safe I need to thank assistant superintendent of administration Mr Dan lokima for all of his efforts as we have agreed moments with the New York State Police such as County Sheriff's Department the
033town of Fishkill the village of Fishkill the town of East Fishkill um the Town of Poughkeepsie is there any Department that I've omitted Mr Okemah I mentioned state troopers correct so again I just wanted to make note of that thank you [Music] school calendar whereas the Board of Education adopted the 2022-2023 school calendar at their meeting of March 14 2022 and revised it on June 6 2022 whereas it has been determined that the 2022-2023 school calendar requires an additional revision to add June 1st as a Regents testing day therefore now therefore be it resolved at the board of education does hereby amend the school calendar and adopts the 2022-2023 school calendar as revised it's one discussion not a favorite um 101 8101 approval District comprehensive Improvement plan and the school corporations education plan for Robert
034Junior High School whereas the New York State education department Commissioners regulation one zero zero point one eight eight three B one requires the Board of Education to approve the district comprehensive Improvement plan and the comprehensive education plans for schools identified by the New York State education department as a targeted support and Improvement school and whereas such regulation requires that htsi school develop and implement the comprehensive education plan and whereas this plan will be formally approved by the Board of Education and whereas the Board of Education reviewed the school comprehensive education plan for Wappingers Junior High School now therefore be it resolved at the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools approves the comprehensive education plan for the district and Wappingers Junior High School for the 2022-22 a school year second reading
035of adoption of policy we saw that the Board of Education of the Wappinger 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 audit audit committee as stated OSHA Marie second Keith all those in favor unanimous before we go on I'd like to thank the martial Liberty for donating copies of the Constitution to our students much appreciated so thank you for the donation all right with that being said uh 9.01 I'm sorry 8.03 I just want to let you just I wanted you to make an announcement that the books that were donated are unbranded so it doesn't give any type of political uh group on the books or on the books for the students foreign as I said
036before the changes are simply grammatical but if anyone would like to comment on them please let us know foreign okay auditions are underlined and are highlighted in green deletions are red and strikethrough policies one three one zero board self-evaluation zero three two zero evaluation of the superintendent one zero zero zero community relations goals one one three zero media relations one four two zero complaints about curricula or instructional materials 1420 R regulation for informational purposes only the board doesn't vote on regulations they're set up by the administration based on the policies 5225 student personal expression motion okay first reading okay all right 9.01 9.101 for members request additional gender Idol sending addition to the agenda if you see none 10.1 the comments from the public so please go forward if you have any comments thank you
037good evening um my name is Karen Hawkins and I am an educator and the parent of an lgbtq louder okay is that better awesome okay let me start over uh good evening my name is Karen Hawkins and I am an educator and the parent of an lgbtq student in the Wappinger School District and I appreciate the opportunity to address you all this evening um we know this District to be a warm and welcoming Community my child was at Wappingers Junior High School last year and we felt incredibly well supported by the community and the leaders at this school and I would like to thank you all on the school board for making that possible as well but tonight I'm here because I was alarmed by some of the candidates that ran for the Wappingers School
038Board in the spring election one of them used openly religious slogans on campaign materials and others were supported by a Christian nationalist group called Monster Liberty they are a nationwide group they have a local chapter yes I'm sure you're now aware and they have made no secret of their agenda which includes among other things Banning books and marginalizing children that they see as different such as life their strategy is to fund local school board candidates to further their cause I would like to say that my family my neighbors and I are ready to fight Christian nationalism in our community the number of people willing to stand against groups like this here in our community is growing exponentially we hope that you will stand with us against the efforts of Christian nationalists in order to defend
039our very welcoming and inclusive educational Community here in Wappingers that we all value so much I thank you for your time [Music] hello my name is Karen Finnegan and I am a mom in a blended family containing seven children ages between 15 and 21 years old when looking for a home I was strategic in location and picked the town of Fishkill because of the excellent public school system that this location would provide one thing that a parent learns very quickly is how differently each child is from the other my children are made up of musicians artists mathematicians historians and one cartographer my kids are quiet they're boisterous careful with words or goals in China shops clean or messy straight or get as a parent you Embrace their differences and love them each with a fierce
040love I want to bring to your attention event that happened during my youngest child's second week of their first year at John Jay High School I know a hard high school can be for kids who are not exactly like everyone else and I was particularly concerned for this child I arrived to pick them up and observe them outside at a picnic table surrounded by a group of other children all the kids looked well unique they had bright colored hair or shaved heads piercings were wearing ripped jeans and Crazy T-shirts when my child hopped in my car I asked who were all those people and the response I got was oh those are all my friends in the gay straight Alliance I am here to express to you how very grateful I am that this most
041precious person in my life had connected with such a wonderful group I want to let you know how very much I appreciate that such a warm and welcoming and loving environment is available for those kids because they need that there has been so much divisiveness in this country over the past several years and an alarming new trend is that extremists have targeted our school systems teachers books and ultimately our children they call themselves moms for Liberty and rally other Christians to pull folks off shelves that legitimize our queer children or children who may have two dads or two moms as parents these same Christians have harassed and bullied our teachers here are some quotes made within the past six months by individuals who are members of the Hudson Valley chapter of this religious extremist group
042gay black or a woman enhance your resume what a stupid world we live in our schools are mind raping our children gay marriage is and always was about sexualizing children full stop what belongs in school is Math Science History little phys Ed that's it that was from a school board candidate if we can't Infuse our Christian values into this school curriculum we should keep it in a benign state we have an atheist agenda trying to educate our children Gage option was one of the weapons used to legalize gay marriage is that my timer okay so I'm just going to wrap it up and say that we are here to stand behind our teachers and our Educators to stand behind our children because those quotes are horrifying to hear I hope everybody got the sense of
043how distasteful it was for me to say that out loud knowing that it affects so many people in this school district [Music] good evening my name is Valentina Granddaddy and my public comment times not really directed toward you um I am a member of the lgbtq community and I'm also a proud member of moms for Liberty we are not a Christian extremist group we are a group of parents who are concerned for our children in the public education system making sure their rights are protected for the people behind me I am not sure where you get your information from but it is false and I feel I should defend moms for Liberty and what we do stand for thank you very much hi uh Sarah henganu Chapter Chair of moms for Liberty I want to
044thank you all for accepting our donation of the papa Constitution we are very much looking forward to serving the students of this community and we hope to continue that partnership to address the comments made prior um I would like to say that um I find it interesting the Christian nationalism uh thing that we're being called or many of our candidates were from all different British backgrounds Jews Christians atheists and so on we are supportive of our award there's our school board here that vote voted to remove um inappropriate and pornographic materials earlier this year so I wanted to thank you guys for that that's what we're looking to get rid of is inappropriate and pornographic images I also want to point out that social media makes it very easy to perpetuate false narratives and so
045I think that's what's a little bit was happening here here tonight but again I appreciate you all for accepting our donation and I look forward to working with you in the future thank you I see no one of my devotion to adjourn my big Marie um Spencer all in favor