001I'd like to call the Lancaster Central School District of 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 that you silence your cell phones and rise for the Pledge of Allegiance please remain standing for a moment of silent reflection for Anthony Corral, a physical education teacher from 1954 through 1986, who passed away on October 4, 2022; and for Sheila Coughlin, a librarian from 1970 through 1999, who passed away on October 11, 2022. thank you that brings us to 4.0 presentations we have no presentations for this evening 5.0 correspondence we have two emails on record 6.0 approval of minutes 6.1 can I have a motion for the regular session minutes from October 3rd
0022022? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye anyone against? motion carries 6.2 can I have a motion on the special session from November 8th 2022? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. motion carries 7.0 Is there anyone from the Lancaster Administrative and Supervisory Association? Is there anyone from the Lancaster Central Teachers Association? good evening um I just wanted to take a moment and let the the district know that last month the LCTA raised um at least three four carloads of food and toiletries for the Trinity Food Pantry and we'd also just like to take a moment and wish our students the staff and the district a thank you Mr. Abraham anyone from the Lancaster Association of Service Personnel Kim Glauser um on the on behalf
003of the executive board LASP members have been working short-staffed working longer hours to cover for jobs not filled and working burnt out and tired doing so without a contract since July 1st we hope we can settle a contract that respects the work that all of the supports that have do because of this district settling a contract would also go a long way to improve morale for the workers who are the backbone of this district and in closing the executive board would like to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving thanks thank you Ms. Glauser anyone from the Lancaster Association of Substitute Teachers moving on to 8.0 reports do any board members have anything to report on okay I'll start um on October 30th I was happy to attend the New York State field band competition where we
004watched the marching Legends uh end their season with a really strong seventh place finish with a score of 89.25 and they're now getting ready to march in Disney World over Christmas break thank you Ms. Cohen uh thank you Mr. Sage um uh I just want to congratulate all the athletes in the district on a very successful fall season was uh outside inside every kid was engaged there participating and the accolades just seemed to keep coming I want to make sure that I don't have any of these so uh bear with me so we had football boys volleyball and girls soccer all made the sectional championship we had men's and women golfers who are going to compete in the sectionals in the spring um we had our cheerleaders won regionals our girls volleyball team is on
005their way to states by winning the section 6 Championship we have boys and girls cross country who are on their way to states we have girls swimmers who are on their way to states and members of the gymnastics teams on their way to states as well um I've been reading in the paper there's a lot of um honors is what kids that have been put on all ECIC teams, Western New York teams and um I'm sure more individual honors where kids signing national letters of intent to go on and continue their careers in college so to kids parents community thank you Mr. Davenport I wanted to add to that I know I remember the last meeting about the football cancer fundraiser that we did last month that we raised a lot of money at the
006um at the one football game but I wanted to mention that all of the athletes really joined together we the team did a fundraiser at their game swimming uh soccer a lot of gymnastics all these sports participating we raised over nine thousand dollars for the American Cancer Society just in the past two months um from all the fall athletes so while they were practicing hard and kicking butt on the field and on the court and everywhere else they also were helping um lots of people right here in West New York fight cancer so very exciting Thank you Mrs. Fetcher all right um you know I want to piggyback a little bit on the uh the girls volleyball uh just I had the opportunity to go to that event I've been kind of um shy to
007go to section six finals for volleyball because unfortunately they've lost every time I go so I I sat one but I did go to the the regional event uh down in Hamburg and it was the most exciting match I entire career of going to events things in this games it was amazing a crowd was electrified and I wish them luck in glen falls over the the weekend it will be exciting to watch all right on to 9.0 the superintendent's administrative report a couple of quick things um we've been talking about a lot about getting back to normalcy and um you know so since the last board meeting Halloween has come and gone uh but our k-6 buildings uh celebrated with parades and parties and games and fun uh the experience in school is important for
008our children and young adults and I'd like to thank all the faculty and staff and families for doing a fantastic job in creating these memories and thanks to all involved in that speaking of families and parents our PTOs are being after the pandemic and they're presently busy the PTO and I'm so grateful for this group um a great group of moms and dads who volunteer their time to help our district and the children in our district everyone should be proud of the work they do for young people and I certainly am um student engagement many of our teachers attended training excuse me at Kagan Cooperative Learning dating through four of that training continue to learn their learning on the structures better understood the purpose of engagement and they enjoyed the training experience from what I
009heard all Lancaster Central School teachers nearly 500 of them will continue to be trained in the at least the one through four days next couple of years and we've been a leader for the last five or six years in this initiative in addition to Lancaster there were teachers from all of Western New York in attendance and certainly a nice experience and as far as the employee shortages employee shortages are everywhere Tim Hortons, Tops, Bar Bill etc. you can't find people at doctor's office can't find people in our construction companies and we're short people here in Lancaster Central School District so if you know any people who are interested in being teacher sub bus drivers or cleaners I've been last year and a half but I'll say it again we're hurting for people and anyone willing
010to help us please send them our way thank you very much thank you Dr. Valley uh on to 10.0 old business does anyone have any old business to discuss on to 11.0 new business 11.1 Personnel items 11.1.1 can I have a motion so moved second any comments or questions all those in favor anyone against motion carries Dr. Valley do we have anybody in attendance today is George Brimmer here George George great sorry I didn't recognize you um George is here he is uh you know with your approval I'm going to be the new Family Support Center um uh director of the Family Support Center that he will hit the run hit the ground running and do an absolutely fantastic job here in that position uh so we posted it and looked for we do some
011great things for uh Lancaster community in that regard George, I hate to put you on the spot would you like to say any words you guys are looking forward to this opportunity I hope I can bring everything that um thank you Mr. Brimmer anyone else in attendance well the other person's is she here no I couldn't make it um anyone here that I forgot or didn't tell me we would like to recognize you um thank you so much for a uh Mrs. Howard thank you so much for coming and and representing uh Senator Gallivan on to 11.2 education items 11.2.1 can I have a motion on the committee on special education? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 11.2.2 can I have a motion on the
012committee on preschool special education so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries on to 12.0 any comments or questions? all those in favor? on to 12.2.6 these are all policy first readings we will vote on each of these in two subsequent meetings on third reading uh policy 1640 absentee ballots policy 5730 school safety policy 5731 idle school buses on school grounds policy 5740 qualifications of bus drivers and policy 6560 determination of employment status employee or independent contractor those are all again for information we'll vote on those at a later meeting on to 12.7 could I have a motion on the substitute rates summer? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.8 can I have a motion on the
013food service operating reports from September 2022? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.9 can I have a motion on the surplus equipment? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.10 can I have a motion on the surplus library books? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.11 can I have a motion to accept the auction results? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. on to 12.12 can I have a motion on the club creations? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.13 can I have a motion on the contract
014with parent transportation? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.14 can I have a motion on the contract with Beth Ferrar? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.15 can I have a motion on the contract with Rachael Schneider? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. just to correct the pronunciation Schneider I believe all right uh 12.16 can I have a motion the contract with Wesley Krantz? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. any uh anyone against? motion carries. 12.17 can I have a motion on the contract with Andrew Haefner? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? anyone against?
015motion carries.12.18 can I have a motion on the guest artist agreement with Michael Block? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.19 can I have a motion on the contract with Lancaster Depew baseball legends license? so moved. second. um any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.20 Housing Solutions LLC? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.21 can I have a motion on the AIA contract with Eric Corporation? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? 12.22 can I have a motion on the construction change orders? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 12.23 can I
016have a motion on the scholastic achievement recognition donation? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. any questions? and anyone against? motion carries. 12.24 indemnification request can I have a motion? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries and 12.25 can I have a motion on the amended contract with Carousel Nursery School? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. 13.0 is our public hearing welcome all who have come to observe this meeting this evening this time is set aside for a 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 in which to address the board this is a
017meeting held in public rather than a public meeting which means we will not be engaging in dialogue members of the community this evening but rest assured we are listening carefully and we take seriously what you have to say I would ask that you demonstrate respect for us and one another by speaking to the issues giving us ideas and sharing your opinions but not engaging 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 board policy prohibits public comments on any topic directly or indirectly related to employee information they may just discussion about a particular student accordingly please do not comment on the performance of or conduct of individual staff
018members and or specific student-related matters this policy will be strictly enforced and anyone violating the policy will be barred from addressing the board in the future thank you for your cooperation all right we um Laura Sproull I believe Sproull I my apologies yeah you can just state your name again address all right perfect sorry about that my name is Laura Sproull again and I live at 89 Center Drive in Depew I have four wonderful kids in this district and our kids are super involved they do Sports they do clubs they're in musicals we love this District that's why we moved here my daughter came home with a library book the other day that concerned me it's called Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne and what looked like an innocent Hollywood um book just about
019Halloween be about two lesbian Middle School characters who talk about a lot very complicated things for our kids and it ends it's a graphic novel so it's pictures and in the end it has a scene of them making out which is also graphic and shown in pictures as a mom she read this book at school without my permission or my consent I didn't know that she had access to such material so I oh then that's like she comes home with another book this is The Prince and the Dressmaker this is a book about drag queens it's a book about a young prince he is really a drag queen and it is also very pictorial it's him being transitioning from a male to a female in all sorts of dresses and then it ends and I
020have these books if anyone would like to see them and the page is specific confusing and she was very confused as a mom and my mama's heart I'm glad that she felt comfortable coming to me and saying mom this book made me feel weird this book made me feel uncomfortable and I don't and I said you know honey that's okay but you wouldn't talk anymore about that and she went up to her room and you know I don't care if someone I don't care if they're gay I just think that talks of human sexuality does not belong on the elementary level especially when we're talking about kids who are in fourth fifth and sixth grade we're not talking about high schools here we are talking about amentary age children and I think there's an appropriate
021age for these topics to be introduced so I did a little search on Destiny Discover just to see well maybe just the books there are more books than I ever imagined my lovely assistant here is going to pass out uh some handouts the first is things from William Street books I did not spend a lot of time on this okay sorry thank you so much um the first is books accessible in access any time and the second is for Lancaster middle school because I have a student in both I have kids at the elementary middle and and um at William Street and this shocked me because I just feel like other topics that as parents we should get the first crack at home first I should have a one-on-one conversation with my daughters and my
022sons I have two of each on the couch at home in a safe setting before they are exposed at school in a school setting where they don't feel safe reading such novels and I just feel like I don't care about people's sexuality but I do care how it's introduced to my kids and I want to be the one to introduce it first before they read a book at school she read this book at school before she even came home I did not know and so she I didn't get a chance to say honey I don't think you're ready for this yet we haven't had the talk yet because I think that's our job as parents and not all kids are ready at the same time this is not a one size fits all for instance
023not all students are ready for gay lesbian transgender drag queen themes as fourth graders happily on our shelves for anyone to read we're saying yes I'm ready to listen and I think that's our job as parents and I think it's negligent on Lancaster's part to have these books mixed in with everything else um that's kind of falling as well and saying okay what's right for your kid may not be right for mine yet I kind of looking at it as like when kids are ready to walk they'll walk when kids are ready to talk they'll talk I have a one he's not ready to potty train you I had one kid this is just like potty training when my 18 month old was ready he was ready my other kids it took him to they
024were four that's okay it's different for every kid when they're ready they get it and that's when we teach kids the content so it's interesting to me that my daughters at William Street have with a form that I sign off on for them to take health and that's great and I question that that course is very tame and mild compared to some of the books they have free easy access to at the library every day that they're reading without our knowledge and without our consent and that is my so here's just a few takeaways that I hope you'll consider is one you do Google forms for other things maybe we need a Google form to go out to all the parents and people of Lancaster saying how do you feel about these is asking five
025to ten questions and say ask parents so we know what's the general pulse is of this district and how people feel um I'd love to be part of that if anyone would work with me I can give you my cell phone but I would love to be um interestingly to my understanding it's one person the librarian who made the selection of books for all the students at a school I think we need a more diverse group I think one person has practicing thousands of books that influence thousands of kids over the course of many years a committee who looked at these books and talked about them together and they get approved before they're put on a shelf we know who have parents do you have teachers administrators and you know let's throw some kids in
026there let's hear their voices what kinds of books do they like and what do they want to read and my third point I believe since you have a consent form for the sex ed course how about a consent form or a Restricted Section for books in the library where we sign off when we feel ready and if we feel ready for our kids to read such books and we can simply sign off on them you know we can put us together for our students and as parents I feel like we our choice and I would like that back I feel like our kids are young and they're vulnerable and things in our time I'd like that back so I thank you for your time and I would like to get that telephone number I would
027love to work with I don't want to this okay I hope that we can have some further Dialogue on this and that I know a lot of you are parents you have and you know it too our kids learn and do things that did but they do it at their own pace and we have to have our kids teachings at their own pace so a bit of your time and I hope we can have some further you've discussed it and happy to give out my cell phone number I work with any of you on a Google form to get the sense of what the community's pulse is and thank you again okay uh Laura's phone [Applause] um did you want to speak as well the assistant 14.0 we're going to go into uh executive session
028um to discuss LASP negotiations on the meeting uh for this evening the public portion but before we vote on that uh the next meeting is going to be December 12, 2022 that'll be a regular session 7 p.m. right here in the Central Avenue School building do I have a motion to go into executive session? so moved. second. any comments or questions? all those in favor? aye. anyone against? motion carries. all right thank you all this evening.