001call the Lancaster Central School District Board of Education meeting to order in the unlikely event of an emergency if we have to evacuate the room please note the locations of the exits at this time I ask you to silence your cell phones and rise for the Pledge of Allegiance this remaining standing for a moment of silence reflection excuse me [Music] thank you moving on to 4.0 we have presentations let's go first to 4.2 we have our art show with in Perry Smith hi okay there we go all right hi also I just wanted to um thank um the school board for allowing us to use their uh boardroom to have our wonderful K through 12 art show um district-wide our show and uh we've been fortunate enough to be able to also uh because they
002were gracious enough to give us a beautiful art gallery that we have next door so we have the artwork displayed in two locations so wherever they are they can't forget about us which is pretty great um and obviously as you leave here today you'll absolutely be able to go there if you haven't already gone next hour I checked out the exhibit uh so um without without further Ado um get started um obviously congrats congratulations to the kindergarten through 12th grade students who were selected for this year's 2023 District wine art show it will be up from and it actually has been up from May all the way through to the uh this time again like next year I'm sorry I should have said that I'm a Murphy um and so please obviously join us in
003celebrating this young artists on this procedures honor that we've been able to award them this year and our first award-winning artist for at Shirley Elementary with Mrs Radka is Amelia de Dozier um I don't know if she's here [Applause] love this teamwork awesome great job um [Music] thank you Amelia are you guys um Emilio why do we see up here yeah you're our first um Elementary thank you Miss Hafner is one of our newest art teachers and she was also an alumni so we're super fortunate to have her and she's a wonderful teacher which I'm sure Cora would attest to um and second grade at Hillview element that is the wrong that's the wrong school that's Court Street I'm so sorry it's Isabel second grade and that's actually a court story and Mr Covelli is
004another one of our new teachers and as you can see excellent artwork coming out of Court Street um and this is actually Hillview and it's dashek third grade and Miss Russo thank you yeah okay and with your sister gray at William Street for fourth grade is violet Carson and also at William Street with Mrs Chambers is for fifth grade Paige Harris [Applause] and also at William Street is over sixth grade with Mr castaki thank you [Applause] [Music] and moving on to Lancaster Middle School seventh grade with Mrs broby is Jasper sawicki and Juliana lamb also at Lancaster middle school for eighth grade with Mrs Berry foreign last year because she's pretty exceptional so we're pretty excited to have her back this year um Olivia Friedman ninth grade with uh welcome to the high school and
005Olivia zarnacki a 10th grade Lancaster High School as well and she is one of my students and we are awesome to represent with Ceramics got some 3D in there thank you um Lily Marshall 11th grade also at the high school with Mrs Calhoun [Music] our last wonderful artist is Emma plotnicki and she's a senior this year and she is with Mr Miller foreign so I just wanted to say again thank you to everyone thank you to the wonderful students it's a huge honor they were obviously selected by all the students in all of the grades um it was a really hard Choice as it is every year um and we're really as again like I said very excited that they're here at the art gallery they're also at the boardroom so we share it by
006everybody all year long in the boardroom obviously and here at the gallery through October so thank you so much to everybody and if you would like to go next door and check out the gallery in real life and check out the artwork and take photos do some photo ops that will be amazing and just can't say thank you enough so much to all of you thank you thank you all right we're gonna stay in our seats here we're gonna move on back to 4.1 the rifle team recognition Mr Dunbar all right thank you very much um we just came out this evening to recognize the Varsity Red whole team here these young men and women behind me have accomplished a lot three of them are seniors with us here today um just got a little
007background not to figure it out on breaking or anything they shoot two disciplines um as far as rifles 30 shot off handy which is literally standing shooting three Targets in that three position air rifle which is shooting your traditional three uh positions prone kneeling and standing these young men and women over the last three years have been sectional champions in both disciplines and state champions for the last two years foreign rifle program in New York state only one other school has accomplished back-to-back championships in both disciplines so it's pretty impressive to what they've accomplished so we just wanted to thank the board for their time and effort um and the athletic department for their support throughout the seasons so thank you very much so first up we have senior Miranda Leach senior Tyler de Krueger
008sophomore Megan bubble senior John martzloff I think I'm not able to make it tonight we have Junior Jesse Holmes and also senior Jade actor so thank you foreign thank you so much for doing that um before today's meeting they actually took us down uh into the rifle range we were able to shoot some of the airsoft rifles which is uh exhilarating uh we got some some targets we actually did quite a bit of the black uh I think John even got maybe really close maybe at eight or a nine so I'm really proud of a job these kids are hitting tens all day long so uh really congratulations to that again all right um for 4.3 we've got our culture climate and inclusivity gold uh with everybody glattner and uh thank you oh while he's
009setting that up my name is Bonnie Blattner um I was the eighth grade health teacher at Lancaster middle school for 27 years for seven or eight years in there I also taught team leadership um and just as tasked um July I was um elected I was a I got the job as the culture climate Maple Mississippi coordinator and you know Dr Cooper and our students who are presenting today if they could just sort of stand we have from the Middle School Emily Kaiser and I'm from the Lancaster Middle School I'm Emma Carl I'm a I'm Emily Reid I'm also graduating senior I'm Elizabeth kamrowski and I'm also a graduating senior all right um so culture is sort of like the Norms the values our guiding beliefs in our school systems okay um and it's sort
010of like our rituals and obviously if you step a day in any of our schools we have a lot of rituals especially in Lancaster High School holy crow um in my New Year here in uh experience everything that's happening um the culture here is it's been going on for years all right it's the things that we do it's the things that the kids respect um if things hanging from the ceiling and not tearing them down um it's how we work together it's how we solve problems it's how we confront changes okay and obviously with a lot that's happening today we need to start looking at some things that we do need to change okay we want to shape the overall environment okay because we want everybody to feel safe everybody to feel accepted everybody to
011be part of our school district okay um so then what is climate you know what I say to the kids they're like temperature you know sometimes are a little chilly some rooms are a little hot literally as well but it's sort of like a social educational climate um it's sort of like the feel of this rule are you comfortable here do you feel like you are part of it um and it's sort of like the heart in our soul and for me being here for 28 years I I believe we do have a heart muscle for our school district um and so with that it's giving us our personal worth it is safety dignity and importance um it is also creating a sense of belonging because I'm there are unfortunately some kids in our school
012district that never feel connected and if they don't feel connected are they going to want to be here are they going to do really well no they're not so what we need to start to do is to start to take a look at what can we do to get all of our kids to be part of our community here so when you think of culture and climate that's sort of what we're talking about here we want all kids included we want all kids susception we want all kids to feel them of their authentic self I think [Music] so our our task today and the presentation is to review one of our goals uh that was set in meeting the school year and you can see it continue to explore review and create practices and policies
013as it pertains to culture climate inclusivity with a specific focus on supporting students okay supporting all students Ms flatten did a fantastic job outlining the long history that we have in Lancaster about being thoughtful and intentional about creating a culture and a climate for which students can can Thrive and flourish um because without that the academics may come second becomes more challenging for all of our students okay so to do that in a thoughtful intentional manner so the one we talk about inclusivity stake a moment to look at that picture I think it's a pretty powerful picture we started one of our formal meetings this year with our culture climate inclusivity committee about discussing what that picture means and if we went around this room there's probably a situation in which you can all think
014of where we go about the young child and the yellow shirt and the cheese okay that's what we're trying to do is create that culture and you'll see as Ms planner talked about this to cultivate the school Community where everyone feels safe the values have been connected we take safety very seriously at the school district we always have and I think there's a presentation earlier this year in December where you outline the safety but additionally the valued and connected those are important things the committee came up with to define the vision or the mission rather and the works that this group does and it's our student CCI committee and our adult CCI committee of being thoughtful and intentional with the work around CCI the application was me in fourth grade Janice oh Levine didn't let
015me be part of her brownie true and I felt all left alone and I still remember it to this day and I do share it with my students when I teach about this that it does have lasting effects when kids aren't connected so what happened before I got here okay um we have two outstanding teachers which yes we've had this happening in our schools in our classrooms prior to them me getting this job um he is the athletic director and also the LHS varsity football coach um he did he had they have been doing a camp with Bennett for years and years and this time he sort of send it out to McKinley these three questions what is one of your goals for this season okay I would like to XYZ all right um all
016right and then also what is tragedy in your life or something that you're not so proud of and these are just some pictures of the team together talking discussing experiencing different people's lives okay some things that were overheard we have the same vocals here all right um we I also regret not having a relationship with my father all right and this was both the Lancaster student and the student from McKinley and I mean so we foundations all right and that's what we want to do is we want to find connections we want to find experiences to try to open up our minds a little bit more and with that also we have Lynn Rudolph um she is the orchestra teacher here at Lancaster High School um she has been doing a joint work since 2019
017with the Buffalo string Works which these are wrecking to children that they teach string instruments to all right and our students even during the pandemic would drive down to the west side of Buffalo and teach these Refugee children how to play string instruments which is music teacher and they're going to tell you how important music is in people's lives um who is a world-renowned cellist who has played all over the world and got experiences from everywhere he is and I was able to be here in this Auditorium for the um the the collaboration that they did they played together they got to ask questions of my blob it was like I'm not a musical version it was amazing but then to go down to the West Side Charter School to see that play together it
018was top-notch it was absolutely fantastic so this stuff has been happening all right so what we want to do is we want to create more of this um so what did I do when I got started here um I wasn't quite sure so I'm like okay let's start educating let's start bringing the exposure to different holidays different celebrations different things from that all of our students feel seen in Lancaster um I started with Hispanic Heritage Month I pointed out some notable um Hispanic Americans um Thanksgiving Revisited just sort of take a look at it um okay did you know there's like 700 [Music] we had different activities that the teachers could do to try to start raising that awareness so so what else what is our school doing all right what did we sort of
019plan out this year um and it was just a very brief like in your two top highlights uh we'll start with cooler we started looking at Thanksgiving a little bit differently as opposed to putting a feather around somebody's head um and sitting down and doing the Thanksgiving uh dinner we start looking at some different things we started looking at um our Native American cultures to sort of say what do you what would you like to see from us um they also did a buddy bench where if you sit on that bench somebody will come sit with you okay um and so with that it's just really great to see um and that is her good citizens club that is uh Bethany mckernan's group and then from there Court Street um they looked at CCI through
020literature okay and for the five months they did the little spot um which is super cute by the way a little spot of respect a little spot in the world little spot of kind words which also went around with kindness week uh teamwork and responsibility and belonging and on the opposite month from that they also did a CCI book to try to help raise awareness and try to start exposing us to different types of literature and then Kelly Bates she also did the little spot of emotions which is a whole SEL program that goes along with a little spot and she did a push in this year I think with a second grade class and then from there she's going to push out a little bit more this year which I think is absolutely amazing
021and the top left corner or the top right corner I know it's very hard to see but that is uh Court Street all together and they're belonging um on our day of unity so it was just great to see that um from there Johnny showley they did this huge Battle of the books um and every day there was a different Slide the kids got to go home and they get to read the book and they got to decide and it just kept going every day I don't know how they did it but it was absolutely amazing um they also did different holiday celebrations yes we had our Christmas carols but then they also had some different students read about the different holidays in there and they also did a good citizens Club they did a
022service project where they did the tying blankets they got to take it to greenfields they got to explore they got to meet the residents they got to sit and chat with them and they ended up secreting more experiences outside of this school okay after that William Street um two major things that they had which I may have to send you all the link for this um the be a light um in um October I believe it was um they did a whole be a light like what can you do to be a life for somebody else okay I could be kind I can compliment you I can ask you to play with me okay um and then we just got the ramp up video which should be coming out soon um and so with that
023it was amazing a little ceremony that they did that the student leaders walked around and we sort of lit everybody's light as we went around William Street it was just absolutely magical um and they also created um the legends of the round table where each student in the school got chance to sit down with the administration School psychologists whoever was running the group for that day and they got to talk about what they are feeling um how do you feel in the school what would you like to see happen um and with that it was just amazing to hear fourth fifth and sixth grade students talk about what they want okay um and it was just I got the chill skin um and so with that um you can just the pictures on the bottom
024are from the legends of the round table and like I said each student got a chance to go do that so I am now going to turn it over to Emily Kiker and she is going to talk about um our disability awareness at LMS foreign committee this year Lancaster Middle School we made sure to bring diverse teachers and attention attention of all students faculty staff and administration because it deserves to be there each month we haven't highlighted new and diversity relevant groups and colleges for daily announcements during this familiar awareness month I recorded morning announcements explaining the Developmental and physical disabilities we hung posters through LMS that talk about autism deafness physical disabilities and disability awareness in general but the awareness I am most proud about at LMS was probably the wheelchair basketball game we
025just had on June 7th Miss Edwards working with the Buffalo wheelchair basketball to bring a Triad event after school faculty and staff donate towards a new sports chair got to try my favorite sport to be able to show how disabled athletes complete compete and play sports at a high level was a great page show diversity and inclusion I am so proud to be a student in Lancaster where we have programs like CCI and represent all groups for all people [Applause] here and the chair did you score a basket or no okay it was a lot harder than you thought it was it was absolutely amazing um and so with that uh it was absolutely amazing to see and hopefully next year we can bring that out to the high school to start raising Awareness on
026that too and you can just see the excitement down in the bottom corner coming out um but it was sort of like very humbling for these you know like really Sporto guys to be like dude this is hard like yeah but Emily was like and then there she's gone um and so with that up in LHS um with our leadership and action students um unfortunately Sam soronski is not here for this uh but she along with her co-chairs uh planned the day of unity up at the high school um which was an awareness of the uh tragedy on May 14th of 2022 um and what they did is in the bottom corner they did a video on what is respect um they said it's all the foundations teachers and English teachers um and just basically
027to get them thinking about what does unity mean to you what can you do to break down biases and stereotypes here at the high school um they had 1700 Multicultural hands that they hung up through the front foyers they had the 10 victims along the hallway down the stairs here and with that Tracy essimist she actually did the video in her English class and then she did Unity haikus and then they took it out to the chalk walk which was absolutely amazing to see and there's a whole bunch of videos of that too also our CCI committee jumped off of the day of unity with leadership in action and from there we did a whole day of unity walk where we recognized the 10 victims we also created day of unity posters and it was
028really great to see people from all different groups working together to create something and doesn't really hear their feedback from what did you learn and what can we do differently it was just absolutely eye-opening and this was all planned by the students so next up we have a girl and our animal girl sorry there's a lot of animals here so good evening my name is Emma not Emily and with myself along with two of my fellow classmates from the leadership and action class ran the 2023 best buddies project with the help of Miss Blattner our project sought to further break down the barriers between ourselves and Mrs anstep and Mr mosher's self-contained students which had often been separated from the rest of the student body on March 17th we ran a St Patrick's Day party
029for the students in rooms 144 and 146. we had several volunteers help out for both CCI and the leadership academy together with the self-contained students we made crafts decorated cookies and read and discussed the book all the ways to be smart Not only was this project but fun and joyful it also gave both groups of students further exposure to one another and Illustrated that even though a person right now looked or act like you do that doesn't make them less a serving of kindness or friendship as best buddies was a relatively new project my classmates and I hope that future CCI projects incorporate the self-contained students as they are a wonderful group of students to work with and are so much fun and joyful thank you [Applause] it's just absolutely amazing next up is Emily
030Reid to talk about diversity empowerment yeah hello everyone my name is Emily Reed and I was one of the co-chairs of diversity empowerment diversity empowerment was a newly formed inclusion initiative and our goal was to promote cultural awareness and inclusivity our project consisted of four initiatives for for our first initiative we created 15 posters containing a notable slash influential influential African-American figure to help LHS celebrate Black History Month our second initiative was to Showcase design was a showcase design that was hung up throughout women's History Month each week the coaches displayed three posters containing an influential woman facts about them and their accomplishments in the showcase our third initiative contained many different cultural centered activities the first was having Mrs Smith Mann's e-law students recite the Pledge of Allegiance in their native language this was
031in Hope of spreading knowledge of different languages that are spoken around LHS besides Spanish and French the second activity was a culturally centered lunch menu my coachers and I worked closely with Mrs aguilero and Miss Denver to create a lunch menu for this week containing Cuisines from all around the world food items were served from countries like India Bangladesh Puerto Rico and the Philippines our last initiative was a supply drive for Vive La Casa which is a refugee Center in the City of Buffalo this drive took place for two weeks around the school we collected a range of items including kid snacks feminine hygiene products and cleaning supplies this drive took place at a perfect time the day before we dropped off the donations Vive La Casa actually hit capacity and was in huge need
032of donations when the coaches sent out the email form we were met with tons of positive feedback but also with a lot of negative criticism there were comments ranging from Black History Month is not important enough to be celebrated at LHS to these are temporary initiatives that do not mean anything while these responses were tough to read I believe that this emphasizes the need for more cultural awareness and inclusivity around LHS I hope that one day these inclusion initiatives will be accepted by all and I believe that we can only do that by continuing to spread cultural awareness and inclusion around LHS thank you [Applause] and lastly we have Elizabeth [Music] good evening everyone my name is Elizabeth yamrowski this year I had the pleasure of being a student co-chair for the Herman Badillo bilingual
033Academy's first ever Eighth Grade Prom video Bilingual Academy is a school in the City of Buffalo where the majority of students come from underprivileged Spanish-speaking households for this project my fellow coachers and I work directly with the Hermann patio student council to plan the dance since they have never done anything like this before they were in need of some guidance so we were happy to offer them Our advice at the beginning stages of the planning process we went on field trips with the harmony Bilingual Academy to meet with the 8th graders they told us their initial ideas and thoughts for the dance as well as the theme which was Noche on San Juan or a night in San Juan in order to grab the attention of the students and get them excited about the dance
034my coachers and I created 30 posters for the Hermann padillo student council to hang up in their hallways these posters included the time date and location of the dance as well as activity and the dinner menu we also assisted the 8th graders in getting decorations for the gymnasium however my favorite contribution was holding the dress and suit Drive thank you my co-chairs and I collected gently used dresses suits shirts and ties from students at the high school and the middle school to be donated to the students at the home of a deal Bilingual Academy to wear for their dance being involved in this project was an incredible experience I loved forming connections with the students and seeing the looks on their faces when they walked into the dance and how excited they were to be
035there I am so thankful for the opportunity to have been involved in this project as it has given me a chance to learn so much about other cultures and to help make a positive significant difference in the lives of others thank you foreign so we've done some really great things but we still have ways to go uh the four main principles of culturally responsive sustaining education is welcoming infinite affirming environment which we are trying to start with uh from there we're gonna have high expectations and rigorous and uh instruction uh inclusive curriculum and assessments and also ongoing professional learning um and so with that uh the framework for our lcsd plan is to look at governance teaching and learning family and Community engagement Workforce diversity uh diverse schools and learning opportunities and student supports discipline
036and wellness so to bring us back to where we started as our mission statement our overall mission is to continue to culpate a school Community where everyone feels safe valued and connected so thank you so much I'm sorry [Applause] thank you all right what a tree uh we had three amazing presentations uh today um yeah first we had an amazing art show and then we got a glimpse uh into the rifle range today um and then to round it off with uh CCI I want to thank Mrs split Ladner and the young ladies that uh came in to speak this evening uh we all enjoy when the students have uh the floor it is amazing because uh especially here in Lancaster the students really run the show they do most of the work uh no
037offense to the teachers of course but the especially here at the leadership academy all the the the student leader thing is are done by students and I think that's just a great thing about Lancaster so again thank you all um let's move on to 5.0 correspondence we did receive one main email of no 6.0 approval of minutes 6.1 can I have a motion to approve the regular session from June 5th 2023. yes any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries on to 7.0 items from staff organizations anyone from the Lancaster administrative and supervisory Association anyone from the Lancaster Central Teachers Association good evening just a few things the lcta would like to congratulate that class of 2023 the graduates as they walk the stage tomorrow night I wish the block and
038all that they do as teachers whether you're a kindergarten teacher all the way up to 12th grade you're always happy to see those kids be successful in life and they're always our students secondly the lcta we have nine retirees this year and we want to wish them luck in the next chapter of their life and Burke Joanne Carroll Lisa Greiner Mullen Jim Lyons Angeline Pappas Annette Smith Claudia trezinkowski Judy zinska and Pauline zeidel and even though she is no longer a member of the lcta at one point she was the LCT would also like to congratulate Terry anime her retirement as an assistant principal thank you thank you Mr Abraham anyone from the Lancaster Association of service personnel and anyone from the Lancaster Association of substitute teachers on to 8.0 board reports uh 8.1 do
039I have a motion on the review of The 2022-2023 District goals all right so I'm just going to go through the goals here student achievement Forum committees to support each of the lcsd comprehensive District education plan goals to maintain a focus on the continuous Improvement of student achievement each committee will create a plan of action to outline the steps to help attain the established goals by 2026. all right there's gonna be eight goals in the 2022 uh cdep along with five underlying themes this year the District administration from the curriculum construction and pupil Personnel Services Department have worked collaboratively with building Administration to co-chair each of the eight committees with teachers and support staff their work included the formation of committees for each goal creating agendas and maintaining minutes for work sessions and the development
040of plans of actions the plans of action include supporting students in the wake of the pandemic while helping them attain the lofty cdap goals over the next five years this work is ongoing this winter the Board of Education heard a presentation on reading and math the specifics of each plan created by the community committees range from structural changes I.E piloting chemistry and physics courses in the ninth grade to more substantive changes like exploring the evolution of reading instruction programs all of the plans which will be presented to the Board of Education this summer including emphasis on supporting our students and teachers throughout the variety of means continue to explore review and create practices and policies as it pertains to culture climate and inclusivity or CCI with specific focus on supporting our students the addition of
041our CCI coordinator and the supporting CCI Liaisons last summer at the building level provided the necessary infrastructure to support our students the CCI Focus was Crete was to create experiences both internally and externally that help all students feel safe valued and connected to the lcsd school community students at the secondary level worked with CCI student committee completed a variety of projects and participated in experiences that were focused on inclusivity at the k-6 level students focused on building understanding developing empathy and creating initiatives to provide all students with a voice like the legends of the Round Table we are all proud that much it was accomplished and a solid foundation was set for our CCI Journey but we know that there is still much work to be done to fulfill our CCI Mission which is to
042cultivate the community where everyone feels safe valued and connected then we have health and safety we want to update the Board of Education and the community on the district's Safety and Security initiatives So Jamie Phillips Armstrong Amy Mohler John trezman Greg hair and SRO lower and srl Monte provided a safety update at the December 12 2022 Board of Education meeting the presentation included an overview of infrastructure and procedural efforts the safe and loved arrival procedure information on the district-wide and building level safety committees services from Altera safety Consultants rapid lockdown drills threat inquiries and Mental Health Services the roles of the sros in our schools and the Lancaster and Depew Police Department liaison program the meeting was live streamed and recording is available on the districts YouTube channel for viewing by the public Labor Relations
043obtain a fair and reasonable labor agreements with the Lancaster Association of service personnel uh our four-year contract was ratified beat by LS AP or ASP on January 25th 2023 for a period of July 1st 2022 through June 30th 2026. obtained a fair and reasonable labor agreement with the Lancaster Central Teachers Association a three-year contract was ratified by the lcta on June 14 2023 and approved here tonight uh in just a few minutes um for a period uh from August 2023 to August 2026 obtain a fair and reasonable labor agreements with the Lancaster Association of substitute teachers or last the last president and the superintendent have agreed to sit down in July to begin discussions Personnel continue to assess and improve Personnel practices to advance District goals and with the transition of the new assistant superintendent
044for human resources early in February we've continued to review existing practices while prioritizing the school front platform as a mechanism to improve Personnel functions across the board personnel has worked with all departments along the community along with community relations to improve job postings and find ways to utilize multiple Regional job platforms to maximize visibility negotiation of competitive labor agreements as noted above also was a big part of the efforts towards the goal of Recruitment and Retention of quality employees to leverage School front to find efficiencies for various departments including Personnel payroll and Information Services in addition to transitioning to school front for job postings and onboarding new employees the Personnel payroll and information security departments all found ways to utilize School front and various ways to help streamline and find long-term solutions for various functions
045these departments All Began utilizing School front to eliminate several Antiquated paper forms I.E direct deposit forms employee information changes information security account requests retirement notifications and the like in favor of fully electronic systems moving forward more recently open enrollment information for the district's health insurance claims was rolled out through school front employees were able to access information specific to their position and complete their annual sign-off directly in school front in addition District departments successfully transferred all documents forms and information from the staff portal on the existing District website to school front with the anticipated move to a new website platform in the near future this information will continue to be accessible to employees in a user-friendly format on schoolfront differentiated by bargaining unit and employee group on to finance and operations moved the December 2018
04677.1 million dollar bond issue forward from phase three to phase four of construction phase two work at the middle school and phase three work at Court Street Elementary has been completed the remaining phase three work at the high school stage rigging in the auditorium will be completed this summer as scheduled phase four bids were awarded by the board in January phase four work began in March at both school buildings this phase work this summer and throughout the upcoming school year includes at the high school the site is the focus of the most uh of the work in this phase due to the preferential weather conditions this winter and spring the project is well ahead of schedule long-awaited multi-purpose turf field will be installed including the associated site drainage bleachers lighting and storage building improvements to
047stendal drive a drop-off area near the field house and a large walkway area will be made inside the building several exterior windows will be replaced and additional security cameras and building access controls will be installed at Como Park Elementary a Bus Loop has been added to the site along Oxford Avenue mobile classrooms arrive this summer in preparation for the full renovation of the 1950s wing of the building 16 classrooms in all throughout the school year the fire alarm security camera and access control system will receive upgrades or enhancements throughout the building the main four dollar will receive some cosmetic work bi-weekly oacm meetings and daily communication with the Architects and construction managers occur including weekly updates to the board on work accomplished and accompanying photographs phase five design work at John a sholey is underway
048also during the 2022-2023 school year a district-wide camera server project was completed to replace the server head ends and enhance the district's camera capabilities the boiler was replaced at the 295 Pleasant View scheduled for phase five and completed earlier due to a failure the Hillview a upk editions project three classrooms was completed and a Make Ready project for phase five at Hillview began and the work is still in progress Additionally the district office annex renovation project was approved part of the 2022-2023 general fund Hut was completed and the project department is or the Personnel department is moved and is fully operational in that space now assist in moving the 2023 bond issue forward from inception through Community approval factoring in building condition survey from The Five-Year Plan the SES enrollment study and program needs on
049August 3rd 2022 The Architects financial planner and District administrators worked with the board to review the status of current capital Project work reviewed some long-term planning options based on the 2022 building conditions survey enrollment and program needs and looked at the scope timing budget and financial considerations for a future bond issue in September the district submitted an instructional space and enrollment review to nicetin the New York State education department the submission still awaits and I said review and the next steps as well as the cost and scope of the new bond issue are completely reliant on the review and their decisions oversee the creation of a fiscally responsible budget and that upholds the mission and values of the school Community while maintaining the Integrity of the District programs services and financial conditions with that the
050board developed a final draft of the 2023-2024 school year budget that maintains existing programs and services expand and strengthens instructional opportunities expand Staffing levels and meets the existing and additional needs of the district in a cost-effective way the budget Falls below the minimum property tax caplet and then we've got implement the nyso SC financial management report corrective action plan corrective action has been taken on all six recommendations corrective action was implemented on recommendations three four and five on June 30th 2022 recommendations one and two played a role in the 2023-2024 budget development process and will continue to do so in a subsequent budget processes implementation of recommendation six was completed at the August 22nd 2022 board meeting and will continue to be completed each year all right um that was for information only um we
051voted on those goals uh last year that was just a recap all right on to [Music] uh going back to eight does any board member have anything to report yes I do um so just a couple quick things um obviously at the end of the year so it's pretty hectic for everybody but a couple of good things that have been going on in the district so Hillview had its third grade picnic the other day which was a lot of fun the third graders as they're moving on to Williams Street get to kind of hang out with their teachers and their friends outside for the last couple hours of the day it was a lot of fun the weather held out which was nice the next day was field day the weather held out for the
052most part but I know some of the teachers had to kind of skirt things inside as the rain started to come down but that was a lot of fun um and then I was invited by Mrs Lima who's a first grade teacher to watch her uh her class puts on musical every year so I went to that that was last week uh last week Thursday um so that was a lot of fun uh the first graders do a really good job it's a lot of singing a lot of dancing it was a musical about making sure that you eat healthy food so um they did a great job so shout out to Mrs Limon and all the students for a wonderful job and I hope they all have a great summer and that's it for
053me thank you Mr talarica anyone else all right on to 9.0 uh superintendents administrative report Dr Valley yeah I just like to thank the entire faculty staff and administration and the Board of Education of course on another grade school here that will culminate uh with what I'm sure will be a nice nice graduation event tomorrow now you did KeyBank Center next week the Board of Education and district office turn our Focus to what uh is again yet another 15 million dollar Capital construction project and uh prep for September 2023 which will start up like it'll be tomorrow time flies we expect that to be another uh exciting school year and I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe summer uh thank you very much and uh thanks for another nice meet here thank you Dr
054Valley moving on to 10.0 old businesses anyone have any whole businesses to discuss and 11.0 new business 11.1 uh is our Personnel items can I have a motion on 11.1.1 uh the Lancaster Central Teachers Association uh extension agreement any comments or questions all those in favor aye anyone against motion carries [Applause] 11.1.2 can I have a motion on the superintendents at uh Employment contract any comments or questions all those in favor hi anyone against motion carries 11.1.3 can I have a motion on the Personnel changes a second any comments or questions all those in favor [Music] anyone against motion carries 11.2 education items can I have a motion on 11.2.1 the committee on special education so that's right any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.0 is our business and
055financial items 12.1 can I have a motion on the financial items any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.2 is a policy second reading this is for information only policy 5630 facilities inspection operation and maintenance information 12.3 is a policy first reading 7420 Sports and the athletic program 12.0 12.4 is the policy first reading 8240 instruction in certain subjects those three will be read either once or twice more and voted on in their third reading 12.5 can I have the motion and kind of have a motion on the contract with Clarence Central School District second any comments or questions all those a favor anyone against motion carries 12.6 can I have an emotion on the contract for sound Transformations Music Therapy Services any comments or questions all those in favor
056[Music] anyone against motion carries 12.7 can I have on motion on the contracts with bhsc services any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.8 can I have a motion on the contract with YMCA Buffalo Niagara so any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.9 can I have a motion on the contract with Associated physical and occupational therapists pllc any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12 2010 can add a motion on the construction change orders any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against emotional carries 12.11 if I have a motion on the contract with Rachel Schneider licensed Behavioral Analyst pllc any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.12 can I have a motion
057on the 2023-2024 meal prices okay any comments or questions and prices are staying flat right prices are staying flat for 2023 to 24. all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.13 can I have a motion on the bid award printed forms and stationery any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.14 kind of motion on the bid award for transportation parts and supplies any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.15 can I have a motion on the payment from the employee benefit accrued liability Reserve any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 12.16 can I have a motion on the contract extension for 2023 2024 transportation a second any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries 14.0
058is our public hearing any person who notified the district clerk for policy rule 1514 may speak at this time speakers must first be recognized by the president and then identify themselves by stating their name and address the time limit to speak will be limited to five minutes per person oh welcome all who have come to observe this meeting this evening this time is set aside for public hearing a time when we invite members of the community to share ideas and concerns with us we welcome this opportunity to hear from you each person has given up to five minutes in which to address the board this meeting is held in public rather than a public meeting which means we will not be engaging in any dialogue with members of the community this evening rest assured we
059are listening carefully and take seriously what you have to say I would like to ask that you demonstrated respect for us and one another by speaking to the issues giving us ideas and sharing your opinions but not engaging in any personal attack additionally please know as a public school district we are bound by various laws regulations and policies regarding the privacy of students and staff including the family educational rights and Privacy Act moreover the board policy prohibits public comment on any topic directly or indirectly related to employee Personnel information or any topic that potentially May disclose information about a particular student accordingly please do not comment on the performance or conduct of individual staff members and or specific or confidential student related matters this policy will be strictly enforced and anyone violating the policy will
060be barred from addressing the board in the future thank you for your cooperation Let's see we have three folks signed up for this evening uh Jennifer Venus thank you the little Science Guy okay so there's this great book it's called democracy schools and it's the history of American public education as its role in democracy so I just wanted to share with you a quick quote from it and it says schools who pose that part of Education not provided by experience of other institutions or families they prepare us for the world and accelerate us to the values and arms of our society they express our values at their best as well as their worst since they are institutions that are part of our larger history because they are devoted to children they also reveal our dreams
061our aspirations and our anxieties at their most basic level Public Schools exist because the quality of our democracy depends on the quality of our citizens are we intelligent and thoughtful do we seek the common good he had a democratic education comprises even words in citizenship it embodies it is an aspiration so what I wanted to say tonight was thank you thank you for being calm and consistent thank you for attending first grade musicals which I imagine was a spectacular experience thank you for creating the environment where children feel safe and comfortable sharing their artwork and their stories where teachers are free to be their exuberant selves and celebrate their students where parents and families can come and see their children be celebrated and the community can feel that our tax dollars are in good hands
062so thank you I hope you have a great summer and many many thanks for taking Lancaster towards that aspirational future so have a great summer thank you so much second we have Michael Manuela hello my commanding Wallace this is super bradyf um it was a really nice presentation that CCI put on tonight it is important for somebody to feel valued unfortunately right now you have a student that does not obviously my daughter has special needs and during the Regents exams she gets to take them over multiple dates especially when there's two on a certain deck there was a mistake made by a staff member and copying the exam that left out a question when New York State education of Assessments was contacted they said unfortunately through no fault of her own you have to consider
063that question as a blank so my concern is that one there is no checks and balances I guess or I guess somebody to review that the proper exam is being placed in front of the student somebody who's already at a disadvantage did not have the same opportunity all their students had to answer all the questions that is unacceptable I'm educator myself and if I had done that I'd be the district office with my union president trying to save my ass trying to save my job excuse me so I guess the question I have is how do you assure that this won't happen again how do you make my daughter whole and what policies being put in place so this will happen again to a student with special needs unacceptable thank you Matt Mr Manuel [Applause]
064foreign [Applause] water didn't take up any of my time did it no okay my name is Nancy orticelli I am not a resident I live in West Seneca I do know that last board meeting you did allow other people from different districts to speak and some of your residents asked if I would come and just speak on their behalf I am the President of an organization called the Constitutional Coalition of New York State and as such we stand up for the freedoms and constitutional rights of every single person no matter their race their gender their sexual orientation what have you but I do want to address the issue again which I'm sure you're sick of hearing but I'm sick of dealing with it and I know a lot of us are about the books in
065the school libraries and I'm not going to stand here and read and reiterate the contents of these sexually explicit books in the libraries you've all heard them ad nausea but the fact that the content read aloud did not shock people into action speaks for itself it speaks to the numbing of morality and decency in the average citizen and speaks to the fact that the absolute sexual grooming of our children is seriously not a concern to the school unions who made it their mission to silence parents and organizations like moms for Liberty whose only motive is to shield and protect our youngest citizens from the hypersexualization that is Raging rampant in social media culture I find it ironic that the public outcry against the Catholic Church where pedophilia has been the forefronts while the fact that
066our schools are teaching our kids to become normalized with perversion pornography and sexual exploitation of minors is not according to research the scale of sexual abuse in the public schools is nearly a hundred times greater than that of the Catholic Church not standing straight for the Catholic church either I'm just saying that the outcry against religious organizations is much more than public school government-run organizations the question for critics who seek to downplay the extent of public school sexual abuse is this how many arrests need to happen before you consider it a problem how many children need to be sexually abused by teachers before you consider it a crisis and I do believe that teachers allowing pornography in our schools is a form of sexual abuse that paragraph that I just wrote is based on a
067study in 2004 that showed that one in ten kids K-12 were sexually abused in the public school system these numbers doubled around 2017. this is Public School teachers employees alone not getting into child and child abuse there's a verse in the Bible that says do not awaken love until it's time so regardless if you agree with the Bible or not I think we all agree that many of its ideologies are applicable to society today referencing child and child sexual abuse allowing books like those mentioned by other people absolutely awakens an urge before it's time to be we understand children don't possess the impulse control needed to not act on those things that excite that once again I think there's a misconception about what we are asking for what groups like moms for Liberty is asking
068for nobody's asking for the books to be banned the compromise was to have a section in the libraries with explicit content and get parental permission to check those books out and I know a lot of you especially I'm not going to address you personally but the one person who ran the social media page for the uh campaign said that it's the parent's job to know what's in the books I don't think so I think it's your job to let the parents know what books are in the library what books are in there you have to pay for that you have to pay for the list to have it coiled and that's ridiculous considering the amount of school tax people pay out right the trend that I'm seeing is a pandering to the current Hot Topic
069of the season and not truly representing the wishes of the community as a whole you do not just represent one group of families in this District you represent them all and asking for a sexually explicit content section is a very reasonable compromise let me ask you all this what does it say about your school when Facebook is doing more to protect our kids than you are you try just posting the text or posting an image from those books on social media you get banned instantly you get you get thrown in Facebook jail would it be okay with your school and would it be okay with school policy to allow t-shirts to be worn with some of the text from these books or images on them in school would that be okay for far too long
070the citizens of our nation have allowed unions and government to dictate what happens with our children with zero input from the parents the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says that power is not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people thus education became a function of the state or the people rather than the federal government so until the unions and the school boards learn that the power is in the hands of the people all the people in your District not just a certain demographic these are the kind of school board meetings that we all had better get used to thank you yeah so what to do to our children everyone sitting in that table is responsible I've got a lot more to say but it
071was ridiculous [Applause] stand up just as a reminder we cannot have anyone speak from their seats you do need to be recognized in order to speak at the board meeting anyone violating that policy will be barred in the future and then 15-0 15.0 is our German before we adjourn we do have our next meeting July 10 2023 that's our annual organization meeting and a regular session 7 P.M right here in the Lancaster High School auditorium do I have a motion to adjourn any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against social care