001Good evening everyone. >> Motion to reconvene to a public meeting at 7:32. >> Thank you Katie. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, >> Rob. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, you're Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All in favor? I >> I >> All right. Can we please stand for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Um, let's see here. Do we have any board announcements to share? I just wanted to apologize that I'm not in person tonight. I am I've come under the weather and I don't want to uh infect anybody else. So, >> I I did hear there was something going around. So,
002to all those in our community that are under the weather, uh feel better. >> All right. Um if there's no board announcements, we can move on to the superintendent's announcements. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome. It's great to see so many people here tonight for our elementary presentations. Just want to again welcome Jaywan Chay and Miriam George, our new student board members. They're now attending their second meeting. It's been great to have them as a part of our school board. So, welcome again. So, it's this time of year where we do our annual help card campaign. At the start of every school year, our school support teams and staff engage students in a series of activities to create a sense of belonging, support, social, emotional well-being, and identify strategies and resources to use when
003students need help. So, in mid-occtober, the district rolls out its annual help card campaign to remind students how to access help if they're feeling isolated or overwhelmed. This month, help cards and how-to videos specific to each school with contact information for school support staff and for 24-hour 7-day a week community resources are being shared with students at each of our schools. Recently, our AP environmental science class visited Lamont Dar at the Piermont Pier, and this is something that our AP environmental science class does every year with Brian Newberger. This was the 23rd annual day in the life of the Hudson River and harbor alongside scientists from the Lamont Dory Earth Observatory. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Hudson River estuary program hosted thousands of students all ranging from elementary school to college along
004the Hudson River and the peers of New York Harbor to celebrate the annual science focused field day. Newberger's AP environmental science classes joined students from districts across the county on the Piermont Pier where they became scientists for the day collecting and analyzing scientific data through various hands-on learning activities. Very happy our kids had that opportunity. So, it is that time of year we mark your calendars for our fifth annual trunk or treat. The Family Engagement Center is going to host actually the sixth annual food trunk or treat this uh sorry, Saturday, October 25th, and that will take place from 12 to 3 p.m. in the Tapency High School side parking lot. This fun, festive, and free event is open to all South Orangetown families. We'll have food available for purchase from the participating food trucks.
005We have student clubs, athletic teams, and local organizations who are all invited to host trunks for our trick-or-treaters. They can contact family engagement center coordinator AJ Walker for more information and I know um at the high school we'll be letting the clubs know about the trunk or treat. This week we had the opportunity to attend the Spanish Honor Society induction ceremony. Myself with uh Dr. Lloyd and Dr. Arietta along with Miss Luciano and Senora Walsh and Senora Rich attended along with many students. Uh and it was great to see so many parents there. Also this week we celebrated our Rotary student of the month. We have a breakfast every month at St. Thomas Aquinus and this uh month's student of the month was Audrey Hansar. Uh we're grateful for our partnership with Stack and the
006Rotary Club. And Stack has been hosting breakfast for student of the month since last year for our students uh and for us and we're very appreciative of their partnership and they do that at no cost to the district. Also this week, it's been an exciting week. We welcomed officially our new hire, Miss Erin Ginsburg, who's our new director of special education and related services. Erin joins us with many years of experience in special education coming from Clarkstown, and we're very happy to have you aboard. Welcome, Erin. We're also happy tonight, although this is a little premature, to welcome uh Anne Quigley, who is here to the role of secretary to the superintendent and district clerk. So, congratulations to Anne. And we are thankful that Kathy is staying on with us during this transition period and
007excited for an the board of education and the district. We are very lucky to have you wherever you are. I don't know where she is. There you are. And now I will turn it over to our elementary principles and assistant principles for their school board presentations. Sorry. >> Oh, okay. Let me check the public commentary. >> Okay. So, no signups for public commentary. Yep. >> You're up. >> Sorry. >> I totally missed something. I'm sorry. >> All right. Good evening everybody. >> Sorry. Actually, no. Actually, >> there is somebody on this. >> There is one person and I I I really do apologize. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. uh >> first time for everything, but we will not let that >> Hi. Sorry about that. We thought there was no one sign. >> Give
008me a a quick second just to read off. >> Yeah, >> I have um >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Okay. Great. >> Okay. So, public commentary protocol for public commentary is as follows. All opinions are heard. Everyone should be an active listener. Each person is responsible for his or her behavior. Respect diverse perspectives. Be conscious of your speaking time and tone. A limit of three minutes is an appropriate time frame to state your issue. Speakers may not give unused time to other speakers. Issues of specific personnel, either positive or negative, cannot be discussed at board meetings. References, comments, or discussion that does or may identify a specific student or students by name or situation will not be discussed publicly due to FUPA law. Issues pertaining to specific students should be addressed privately
009with the student's teacher, principal, or school counselor in accordance with policy 1400, public concerns, before bringing the issue to the superintendent's attention. The board reserves the right to close comments on an issue. If residents become unruly or disrespectful, or if the topic is something that the board is legally unable to discuss in public, if an unusual number of people are attending to bring forth a specific issue, the number of speakers could be limited. Depending on the number of people wishing to speak during public commentary, the board reserves a right to reduce the time limit on each speaker until everyone is heard. The sole purpose of public commentary is for the board to actively listen to the community. Meeting protocol requires that questions presented to the board during public commentary will be responded to when possible.
010At the board's discretion, questions requiring investigations will be referred to the superintendent and will be responded to in a timely fashion through future board meetings, electronic mail, mail, or telephonically provided the contact information is supplied to the public commentary signup sheet. >> Uh, thank you for um this opportunity. I just want to say that I just found out about the situation at five o'clock. So, I am rushing to get prepared. So, I'm going to start with uh this is about pool permits and I'm just going to read what I wrote because it'd be easier. >> Um my name is Alice Wagner. I'm the co-owner of Phoenix Aquatic Swim Club. Phoenix has been renting the available pool time since June 2023. I am the person who schedules and pays the invoices. This year, I went to
011secure our permits and another team had taken the Atlotic pool time we have been using for over the last two years. Now in our third year without proper communication we have been denied pool time until a new policy is developed. I had 35 kids here and we were approved for tonight and we had to send them away and our memberships sign up and they pay their membership dues based on pool schedule we put together in July. Um, so I'm asking the superintendent school board to table the new policy that I've been told that they want to develop. I'm asking that you reinstate our pool time for the remaining of this season till August 2026. I strongly request that Phoenix be allowed to rent the available pull time starting immediately, which we've been approved for Friday.
012That's why I'm asking for it to be done immediately. Why is this important? Because we have swimmers setting annual goals of making junior Olympics, senior Mets, zone team, junior and senior national cuts. Since Jack Rolla left, I've been in contact with several different people and communication has been difficult. Just like a school district, our team starts planning in July to set schedules and secure permits. Again, I'm asking that decision be made tonight so our swimmers can reach their goals and we can provide a solid program that is not whimsical in their scheduling. Please honor our original agreement with the Phoenix to be the sole renter for the hours between 5 and 56 6 p 6 6:15 p.m. That's basically seven hours a week. We would like to you to honor that. I want to give
013you a little background on how Phoenix Aquatic Club earned the spot to rent the hours the town is not using. In the fall of 20122, S's pool was under construction. William Pillah and Dan Raffidy were looking for pool time to train their high school team. They were denied by another club, but Phoenix had no problems with renting or sharing their pool time with us at Felix Vesta Middle School and Stony Brook Swim Club. We are community-based team that is open to working closely with other teams. Again, I say there's only seven hours that's available. In addition, those times can be taken away anytime if the high school team has extended practice or swim competition. This can happen at least one to two times a week during the peak men and women's swim team season. For
014this reason, please grant my request. On a side note, it will give the new personnel time to adjust to and get acquainted to how the pool is managed and run. I I I know they want to change the policy, but that takes time. You have to go through steps to do that. We can't wait. We can't wait for six months or three months of how long it will take. So, again, can you please give me an answer tonight or as soon as possible? So, just I have just one clarifying question. You said you had 35 swimmers show up and you had an approved permit >> and and you had to leave. What was the >> Well, what was the reason? >> As the email that I have there, um, they said that they canled our
015permits, but it shows there that it's approved. >> Okay. All right. >> And they didn't cancel. They said they weren't approving any new permits. So, we showed up and we have a schedule for our parents to come and our swimmers to come on Friday. >> For the last two years or something, >> can I ask a question? >> Sorry. I I know we're not really supposed to speak, but do you um have the the email or whoever told you that you're you were not permitted to swim today? Do you have the name? I I mean maybe you should actually if you could send it to the superintendent after the meeting after this or >> that would be great because >> I've been in communication with um >> the facilities committee the facilities I'm sure but
016I just would like um the name of who you've been corresponding with regarding any permit and the use of the pool not >> in the past but just recently. You don't have to name names right now. We can talk about that. >> Diana, she provided an email that we have. >> We'll get you a copy of the email that she provided. >> That's the reason I'm here tonight and I'm I'm just bringing it to the top because they've stopped communication with me only through emails and I just want to have this resolved as quickly as possible. >> Just out of you said the last two years you've had the same times. >> Okay. >> Yes. Um, >> just as in in the uh public uh commentary protocol, we'll we'll definitely be, you know, giving this
017to the superintendent to um to correspond with you. >> I'll follow up with you first thing tomorrow >> and figure out um sadly things don't move as quickly as we may want them sometimes. But I um helpful. >> Yeah, this is helpful. And >> right, I've been dealing with this since August. So, I just I needed to come to you guys tonight. Thank you for coming. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Who issues? >> As I understand it, William Pella approves them based on the athletic department schedule >> and then I I'm sorry. I'm having trouble with the new guy's name. I was I've been in contact with three different people because there's been a change. >> Mr. Vinca right there. >> Oh, hi. >> Sorry. I'm sorry. I have a
018hard time with Gia Car. >> So, there's there is an approval process. I will follow up with you tomorrow. I've been in contact with him. So, >> great. >> Did you you gave your email if you want to give your phone number? I have, you know, >> but we'll definitely get in contact with you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> I appreciate it. >> All right. William O. Schaefer and Cottage Lane, you're up. >> Hi, everyone. >> We're here. >> We're back. Um, so good evening. Um and thank you all for allowing us to come this evening to share our presentation um along with Cottage Lane. Um we are going to start. Yeah, thank you. So we are going to start by sharing some of our highlights from the fall so far. We'll
019be sure. >> Sorry. There you go. There we go. Okay. I probably messed it up for I'm sorry. Um, so we are going to start by just sharing out some of our full highlights. Um, so I don't know I I'm don't know if we have any kindergarten teachers here, but they would be able to tell us um how many days we've been in school so far. Um, but it's only midocctober. Um, and it has been a very busy start to the school year. So just to name a few highlights from the school year so far, we've had um before school even started, we had our whole entire student body come to William O'Hafer to come and meet their teachers, see their classroom, meet their peers. Um which has proven now for the third year to
020really be a tremendous benefit for our students. Um it changes the whole flow of the first day of school. Um everyone knows where they're going with them. Um our kindergarteners confidently come in, they remember where their classroom is, and they've already met their teacher, which has been really wonderful. Um along those lines, we were able to do that because we completed our phase two of the capital work. Um and um it was a great summer. We were able to get our teachers in. Our teachers worked miracles overnight. Um getting our classrooms ready for our students to come in. So we are very appreciative of that. Um and so it was a really great start to the school year. Um some other things to name a few of what we've been doing. Um we participated in
021the start with hello week. Um we had an election um at William O'Her. We have student leaders um for first grade and second grade classes that's already kicked off. Um we've had pri fire prevention month this morning. We had peace in Permont um out on the front lawn of the school doing some yoga which was really great. We'll have that again tomorrow. Um we had our first class trips today. Um second grade classes went to the Norwalk Aquarium. Um what a perfect day for a trip and for some yoga. Um and we have Philipsburg Manor coming up for first grade. We also had our first character assembly um in October. our first one. We do a moment of silence for 911 in September and then October we had our first assembly. Um and we also
022have been doing class charter visits going into each classroom learning a little bit about um the charter that the students and the class created together. And then um just the other day uh it may have been yesterday but it also may have been last week. Okay, last week everything's meshing together. Um we had literacy night, our first family engagement night. Um literacy night. Thank you to Christy Nadler as well as all of our teachers who were there to help run um sessions. Um it was a great turnout and a really fun night for our students. So those are just to name a few of the things that we have been doing at William Schaefer. >> Yes. Okay. So a lot of the things Sheila spoke about are happening at Cottage Lane 2. Start with Hello
023Week literacy night. Um some things uh at Cottage Lane just to add on um we had student le assemblies. We've had two so far, September and October. Um, so we are in full swing with our character education program, which you'll hear a little bit about tonight. Um, we visited all of our classrooms to hear their class charter in the third week of school. Um, and also give some surveys around our character education program and our um, great student rubric, which you'll also hear about tonight. Um, Sheila talked about fire prevention. We've had an author visit already and we have one on deck coming up. Um, and our whole fifth grade has gone to the pier, I guess, as potentially a precursor for AP biology. Um, they are all they all go there in fifth grade.
024Um, it's a really awesome trip. And all of our third graders went to a nature center in Wyoff, New Jersey. So, that was that's some of the things that has happened so far at Cottage Lane. Thank you. >> Um so as you all know our work around um our four goals this year are around responsible use of technology, literacy, profile of a graduate and citizenship. Um our extended leadership teams were able to start this work. Um last year at the end of the school year um I think it was the day right after the last day of school our extended leadership team met for a retreat and we started to work on developing our action plans for the year. Um tonight's presentation is going to be similar to the format that we used last year
025where William O'Sher will present on a goal and then um uh Cottage Lane will present on a goal and our hopes of doing that um that uh structure is so that you can see the connective thread between the two elementary schools. >> We also really want to keep you guys on your toes to see who's going to come up to speak next um to make sure you're paying attention. So at WOS for responsible use of technology, WOS is really committed to teaching uh students two different things about technology. One is how to be a responsible digital citizen and two is really how to use students how to care for a device and how to use a device. Um what one of the biggest things Mrs. Narkeesian likes to say is we don't want to just
026teach our kids how to be consumers, but how to be contributors when we're talking about technology with our students. Because a lot of times at home with our students, they are used to consuming. They're used to going on devices to play games or to watch videos. So, we also want to teach them how to interact and engage and build things as well. But one of the most important things that we do also want to teach our students is what it really means to be a digital citizen. So, when we're talking about digital citizens, we really want to we talk about different lessons and introduce six different literacies. Um we break them down into different body parts which is the head such as information and m media literacy. We talk about healthy habits about the amount
027of time we should spend on devices. We talk about privacy, trusting your gut for privacy and safety. We talk about cyber bullying, online harms. We talk about digital footprint and identity. We also talk about relationships and communication. And within all of those lessons when students are coming to us, they may know your parents passcode or your code to your phone to get into it. But sometimes we're working on them with such small things such as how to log into class link. Also, when you're done, how do you log back out of your system so that the next person who comes in is not going onto your device to use it. Um, we teach them how to code. Um, we teach them how to use robotics. We teach them about internet safety and Google Classroom. And
028one of the biggest things is if your kids are anything like mine who drop their devices all over the place, we really try to teach them about how to care for their devices. Such as small things as when you return to your class after using it or at the end of the day, are you actually plugging it back in yourself and not relying on someone else to do it. >> Okay. So, at Cottage Lane, we are teaching a lot of similar things as William O'Shea. There's definitely a direct continuum, but we're taking it obviously up a level. Um, so at Cottage Lane, our goal is to continue to promote the responsible use of technology, but also to start to prepare our students for productive and successful lives beyond graduation. So those those uh skills and
029tools they need um in using a device. So some of the things taught in technology class but also taught in the library and taught in our classrooms as well um includes ethical internet use um being kind and showing respect online um trusting your gut and safe being safe online if you see something that you need to tell an adult um using Google apps opening editing saving documents and using Google classroom. So again, we have an instructional tech coach, we have our technology teachers, we also have library media teacher and our classroom teachers um who are all working together as kids are doing a lot of their work online um in these ways. So um some of the things just to cover at Cottage Lane that we're looking at are Google apps. I I went through
030some of that. Um coding also in the technology room and what to do if something doesn't feel right. This year, we're looking for growth across the year through a survey that our technology teachers developed. Um, some of the things we're looking to hope that we see mastery by through the survey at the end of our fifth grade year are how to check if a source is reliable, what you can ask yourself to find that out, how to be responsible and kind online, how to be safe online. Um, so those are the some of the things that we're focused on. And I also want to point out that between um William O'Haper and Cottage Lane, we really tried to do a lot in connecting with families and parents around this topic because we know it's a
031really tricky one as parents. Um so we um um George Brady was at our last PTA meeting with the PTA. The PTA has been very good of working with us to bring in resources like that um and doing nights about technology and how to support our parents and also our students. Um, we also, our technology teachers have put out information for parents. We try to push that out as much as we can and just have those things in our back pocket when parents have questions and need support. Okay. Mix up my papers. >> Yeah, don't mess up my mess. Um, so the next area that we want to speak about is the profile of a graduate. So for the last several years at um in the district we've been working on developing our profile of
032a graduate. Um the goal that we have set for ourselves at William O'Shea is that William O'Shea will continue to implement the profile of the graduate to help students improve academically, socially and emotionally. Um this work started at um William O'Hafer probably three years ago I think. Um and at that time we started to work with our extended leadership team to develop the profile of the graduate and what that would look like um developmentally for our students. So um after a lot of work we came up with a rubric um that really focused on four areas um independence, risk-taking, critical thinking and working together. Um we have rolled it out um for the first year that we developed it to get feedback from from teachers. Then the second year we implemented it. Um and then
033last year um we have sought feedback from our teachers. We've sent out a survey to get some feedback on it. Um and then last year we decided um to do kind of a slow roll. Um and the same same structure is following for this year. Um so at the beginning of our month, our monthly assembly, um it has been incorporated to our monthly assembly where we have our student led components talking about the character ed um word of the month and what the um the feeling words are. And then we're also introducing the rubric section that um at that time as well. So this way it's shared experience for all of the students in the school um during the assembly. And then Miss Marchian is nice enough to print a nice copy for everybody just
034focusing on the one area. So this past month was independence. Everyone has that row. And we're really taking the time to thoughtfully and strategically teach into what does that mean? What does that look like? What is a level four? What is a level three? Um what is a level two and a level one? and when we use that, how can we really reflect on our on our actions and our behaviors and our learning um to see how we can continue to grow in those different areas. Um, one thing that we're going to try a little bit differently this year is to incorporate a self-reflection at the end of the second grade year. Um, we know that developmentally, especially in K through two, um, our students are all at different levels of course and so we
035feel that at the end of second grade, every child would have had a few years of work with using the rubric. Um, and that happens across all areas. So, if I go into a reading room, Mrs. Barcanti is there using the rubric. If I go into technology, they're using the rubric as well as in the classroom. Um, so at the end of second grade, we're going to have the students score themselves across the rubric and then self-reflect on ways that they can continue to work um towards, you know, gaining more skills and being more independent. Um, so that is something we're trying out this year and we'll continue to measure over the next few months. Thank you. >> Okay. So, similar to what Sheila said, we've had a process of rolling this out. Um, last
036year at our monthly assemblies, um, we addressed one line of the rubric per assembly, so we're able to cycle through each one twice. So, for example, in um, September, we did communication and then when we got to January, we were back to communication. So, the kids have all heard these things twice now in an assembly um, format. And now this year um we worked with our extended leadership team as well as our SLT and our teachers to come up with some ideas of what we could do next with this work. Um so the first thing is that we are giving um a pre-assessment. We're having the students use the rubric right from the start. So when we went in for the school um the class charter visits, we had every student third, fourth, and fifth
037grade self assess themselves using some indicators on the rubric. We broke it down and we phrased it a little more simply for them. We took the practitioner column, that third column, and we just used some of the words and asked them how they're doing with those things. >> Most of the third graders said they were doing awesome with all of those things. So, that's kind of what you get when you do a self- assessment at sometimes, but that is okay. Our goal was that they're seeing the language and they're becoming familiar with it. And it was a opportunity for myself and Dr. Paige and our two school psychologists to explain what these words mean. So we were we're going to do that at the beginning of the year and the end of the year knowing
038that our real touch point will be our end of the year fifth graders. Um and by the time they do that they'll have seen it a few times. So we're hoping we can get some real self-reflection from them on that. Um the other thing we're going to really focus on this year is one quadrant of the rubric um which is being um sorry being an engaged and empowered learner and also community responsibility and looking at leadership. we decide to pull out the leadership strand which goes across this rubric for our fifth graders. And all of our fifth grade students are going to complete a self-reflection and sort of a summary or capstone project in May and June around the leadership activities they participated in this year. In order to do that, we've been reaching out
039and working with the SLT and the PTA, um our extended leadership team, Mrs. Wagner in the library, um our student council. We have a lot of things that happen at Cajlane that are kind of kind of easy to make opportunities for kids to be leaders in. Trash troopers, um, wax museum guides, uh, school store, the fall fest is coming up. We're going to have fifth graders helping with a bake sale at it. And what we decided is that we're going to partner every third grade class with a fifth grade class so that every single student, all 220 of them, will at least be able to say they were um, a mentee, a mentor to a third grade student. So if they can't do any of these other things, at least they can reflect on that
040leadership opportunity. So we're trying that this year. That's sort of our um big lift that we're trying with this rubric. So we could take a moment in June to have them all think about how that that went this year. >> And I think one of the biggest things about the profile, the graduate, and the rubrics that we're trying to also teach our kids and instill in them is that it's not like you just get to a fourstar and you're done. It could be variable throughout the course of the day. So you may have one day or one subject or one area that you're working on and you are displaying a lot of those fourstar behaviors, but there may be other times where maybe we're not. So then having that conversation and really pushing that conversation
041into what can we do next with our behaviors in order to drive that forward and to really be reflective, which is challenging even sometimes for ourselves. Um, so citizenship is our next goal and this is one of our probably biggest goals and I think you really see it tie into the other themes of the profile of a graduate and also into digital citizenship. So at WS, we really will look to continue to develop our students foundational, social, emotional, and citizenship skills by improving their ability to recognize and manage their emotion, build positive relationships with peers and staff members, and engage in respectfully in their classroom, school, and community. We really do this through a very multiaceted way. We have um our ruler program, which we implement in every single classroom. We have our charter visits
042where at the younger ages we're trying to really make that connection with kids that your behavior how you act towards other is what really changes how they are feeling. So we're really having them describe what are the behaviors and what are the emotions that we want to feel when we're in school. Um we have our student leader elections to get them used to the election process and we have meetings. any student who wants to be a part of the student leaders too, who may not have been elected as a student leader, we do allow them to sit in on those meetings because we want them to learn how this works and we really want them to be a part of it and have some of the say. What we really work on at the beginning
043of the year in the first student leader meeting was talking about building posters for um our school spirit Fridays, making posters, and then they all had to practice what that presentation was going to look like when they returned to their classroom. and they got up in front of the rest of the class to talk about it. Um, we have our student led monthly character education assemblies which go great. We have start with hello. We have our school spirit Fridays. When we were really looking at this, one of the things um, one of our teachers brought up and it was a great idea is really classroom jobs. You know, how are you doing and functioning within the course of the school of doing the small things holding the door for the rest of your class, shutting
044it off, turning off the lights, interacting with everybody. In addition to the character ad assemblies, we also do student created character education bulletin boards where classes will create um words around those themes. One of the biggest things we've looked to move to this year with our character education program is tying in uh themes that theme words of the month that the students will learn about. Our first theme of the month this year was actually independence that we worked on. And then what we're also doing is we do have a feel-inword curriculum where we have two different feel-in words that the students are taught every single month. And the real scope that we're looking at is at the end of the three years that they are here, we're looking at building out that curriculum. So at
045a minimum, every single one of our students just through that curriculum will have direct instruction in approximately 48 feel-in words um to help them identify where they're feeling and more importantly where they can chart that on the the mood meter itself. Um, sometimes having the word to identify the emotion is amazing. But sometimes the emotional diff the differences between different emotion words is so minute it's more important for us to be able to understand if that emotion is pleasant or if it's a high or a low energy because then that helps us dictate what the next steps would be. So, our real goal that we're going to look at is by the end of second grade, um, our students will really be able to identify a vast, um, a vast array of emotions and chart
046where it belongs on the mood meter. >> Citizenship at CL is very similar to citizenship at William O. Schaefer. So, I I won't go through every single thing that you just heard, but know that a lot of the things are the same. Our overall goal this year will be that C students will be able to recognize their emotions using the mood meter, identify an adult they feel comfortable talking to, and will feel safe and respected at school. So that's the goal on paper. And if you flick to the next slide, you kind of see it in practice. So what are some of the things that contribute to citizenship at CLA? We have student led assemblies very similar to William O'Haper. We've had two so far this year. one that had a focus on 911 and
047one that was really focused on Hispanic Heritage Month. Um it was really cool to see the students at the front of the hall in front of all of their peers. Um in the second assembly we had some students who were talking in Spanish as a portion of the assembly which I thought was really cool because they can really recognize their own heritage or even some students who weren't native Spanish speakers had an opportunity to try and a new language in front of other people. Um, we also have character education, the pre and post survey. Dr. Scarf spoke a little bit about this, but we went into all of the classrooms and we really wanted to know, do all students in our building have a safe adult they can talk to. And if they don't, then
048that's good information for us because then we want to reach out to those students and say, hey, let's find somebody who you would feel comfortable talking to. We also want to make sure that students can acknowledge their emotions, they can recognize them, they can label them. And that's a difficult difficult task for adults. So you can imagine how difficult it is for students. So we we used the mood meter, but um there's also different ways that you can think about your emotions. And then we had our class charters. So you heard that we went into all of the classrooms. The classes share their charters with us. And it's really awesome because we get to hear about how students want to feel in their classroom. So they come together, they work on it, they tell us
049how they came up with the words together. Um and then they really all commit to having a classroom that feels that way. [Applause] Um all right so um a hot topic or area of conversation over the last few years has been literacy. So for our goal around literacy we have set the annual goal as being William O'Shea students will demonstrate growth using the star assessment. Um the reason why we're using the star assessment is because it gives us good data. Um but also because as you know this year we are implementing a new phonics curriculum IMSE um and so we want to use the STAR assessment data which is something that we've been using over the course of many many years um as we get to know um the phonics program and the different targets
050and assessments that come along with it. Um so some of the things that have been happening at William Schaefer around this goal is um all classroom teachers and related service providers have been trained in IMS. Um, as you can imagine, this has been a tremendous undertaking. Um, and we trained most of our staff um, last May. Um, with a few of our service providers being trained in June and a few service providers being trained, uh, currently this year. Um, we thank Dr. Arietta's office, um, as well as our instructional coaches who helped um, cover classes so that we can make that happen. Um, and so our teachers came back very motivated and excited to implement this new curriculum. Um this year we have started we already have given our initial assessments to all students um
051so that we can determine a starting point in the curriculum. IMSSE um says that we assess all students and then where 80% of our students score is where we start our instruction. So it's very student um student centered. Um we also have a coaching session coming up with an IMSE um instructor. um it's coming up in November for any staff members who um were part of the training with the old manuals in May. Um and so we've been working really closely with them to schedule something um as well as with our grade level leaders to kind of gather questions and and things that people have been struggling with so that we can provide that to the instruction u instructor ahead of time to really tailor make the transition uh for our PD. Um, we also
052are in the process of reviewing our report card indicators and our assessment timelines and rubrics. Um, you know, we're it's it's something that is important to take a look at because it affects both reading and writing. So, we want to make sure that our report cards as well as our assessments are all aligned with IMSSE of course um and with any changes that are made, we do have to update our rubrics as well. So, that is a work in progress um with our teams at the moment. Um this year Mr. Galvin and myself are continuing to focus our observations in phonics and in reading. So Mr. Galvin and I have been um going into many classes and observing IMSE lessons um which has been really wonderful. We're doing the three-part drill um and really learning
053about all the different components which has been great. And already um it's been exciting to see some of the things that our students are working on um some new structures such as um dictations sentences. um our kindergarteners already starting to do dictation words and sentences um as we speak, which is great. Um I also have the added benefit of having a kindergartener who um gives me a phonics lesson every night. So I got to hear the lingo at home before bedtime, which is really great. Um and lastly, we are excited to um share that we are starting a classroom lab site um with Christy Nadler, our instructional coach. So, she is going to be teaching um phonics in one of our second grade classes. And we've opened that up to be a lab site for
054any teachers who want to go in and watch her as she teaches um to really see how things are running, what's successful there, how can they incorporate that into their own classroom. So, we do thank Christine Nadler for really helping us take on that um this large goal. Um in a few minutes, you'll hear Mr. Galvin um who we like to refer to as the data guy um at William O'Hafer um share some of the data and some of the work that we've been doing around IMSSE as well. >> Okay. So at Cottage Lane similarly we are looking at the star for growth this year. Um we well and every year but star puts out an expected growth p um percentile of what you would what growth you would expect a student to make over
055a school year. So, we are looking at what growth was made over the last year and then building on to that. There are some things we're also tweaking which I'll speak about that we're looking at to help um uh get a better read on our students with that assessment too. Um but going into some of the work that we are doing um around literacy um we are implementing IMC obviously as Sheila said um we have everyone trained fifth grade is in the process of being trained right now. Um, we have something that you don't think about necessarily when you're rolling out a new curriculum unless you are doing it is that it's not just about the content knowledge that the students have or don't have coming up to us. It's about the routines. It's about
056the language. It's about um just how the program goes, like the nuts and bolts of it, which Sheila started to speak about a little. What's the three-part drill? Well, our kids don't know because even though they're in fourth grade and they know a lot of these things and some of them are phenomenal readers, they don't know how IMS goes. So, even though our teachers were trained in the third through fifth grade program, in most cases, our third and fourth grade teachers are having to back up and teach strategies and routines and language from like the second grade book. Not that they're teaching second grade content, but it's like walking into a game where you don't know the rules. Just because you know how to add the numbers or do the things doesn't mean you can
057just step into it. So, that's been a bit of a lift for us at College Lane. That's what we've been really um focusing on knowing that next year and the year after it'll keep you know getting better. Um so similar to William O'Hafer the whole month basically the second half of September the past month um Mrs. Nadler's been teaching in two third grade classes seventh and eighth period every day and teachers have been coming in and out popping in as they can. We've been covering people just see how they're doing it and having a lot of discussions about it. been using team time, staff meeting time, um as much time as we can to kind of have conversations about this and just knowing the long as you roll something out that first year can be
058pretty tricky, especially for like a fourth grader that's kind of plopped into a new program. Um, another thing we're going to continue working on is we did a lot of work last year, um, which you'll hear the results of the fruits of our labor a little when Danielle speaks about our data, but we did a lot of work on responding to a prompt and using level texts, um, from freckle and other sources to teach our students more explicitly how to respond to a prompt like they might see on the New York State test or any other assessment. It it's helpful for the science test, the reading test, um, really any test that they will be taking. So we will be continuing to do that work um and obviously continuing to look at STAR font and
059panel our state test scores in order to provide intervention and support for our students but also to provide enrichment for our students. We just started some um popup ELA enrichments with one of our enrichment teachers today. So we're also looking at um that piece of it. Um, so data at Schaffefer, as Sheila said, sometimes I get made fun of to my face and behind my back about being the data guy. Um, it's something we've kind of used very large part of our lives for the last five years. This is my sixth year in the role. Um, we have our data sheets where every single trimester what we've done up until this point we will have all of our teachers in input their students data into spreadsheets and we're correct in data such as letter sound
060correspondence. How our students are doing on the hegrity phmic awareness assessment. How are they doing on their red words or their site words? Um, we used to call them site words now we call them red words because a lot of these programs and what Dr. Scarth was talking about a lot of these programs have the same concepts but they package them by calling them different things. So some of this is also teaching our kids that when you were learn this it's the same thing as this. It's just a different term that we now use use for it. Um on demand writing pieces runin records and phonics assessments. So we collect all of that data and our star scores for the last couple of years. And what we've really done with that information is every trimester
061we meet with uh me and Miss Beglin and we also meet with our data inquiry team and then we meet with our reading teachers and our math support teachers and we really look at any student who is performing below grade level in a couple of different matrices and then what we do is we try to come up with a plan to support them. Um when we are going through that information that really determines our our next steps and that's when a couple of years ago we flipped our intervention model from just that traditional pullout model to what we also called the prevention model which was also a push-in model of supports where we try to hit students when the gap was really small to see where the success would be with that. Um this year
062we do have a bunch of assessment data that we got from our initial assessment and IMSE and what we're really using is we're going to use this baseline and there's weekly charting of assessments that's given every week through spelling assessments um to really determine where our students are functioning, how they're grasping the new concepts that they are being taught and then where we can make um where we may need to provide support. So the data this year is kind of like a baseline year where we're watching a lot of the data. Um you know one of the first things that we were saying is that in the first assessment that we gave our students within the first couple of days of school um it was a reading assessment but then it was also a very
063heavy decoding uh dictation assessment. Our kids are not used to dictation. So with some of the results that we got and we were looking at one of the confounding variables that we have is were the scores based on how the students actual knowledge is or was it them having some difficulty understanding what the task was asking of them. So that's something that we're going to look at that assessment weekly assessment data and kind of analyze as we go over the first trimester and then use that to kind of drive our next steps. Um did you want to add? >> Sure. >> Yep. So, one of the other things that we just wanted to add is um last year's third grade cohort was the first cohort of students where we made changes to our um our
064curriculum, meaning that we started using Hegy Phmic awareness um uh curriculum and we also updated our units of study to incorporate the science of reading research. Um we also changed up our um our interventions that we provide through MTSS or through RTI. So that's where we started to do a prevention model for any students who we felt like were slightly below where they should be with phmic awareness or phonics or whatever it might be as well as pull out um interventions for students. Um and we've been anxiously awaiting the data the third grade reading data the LA data for um those students since they are the cohort of students who did receive that um different types of instruction. So that leads us right to cottage link and they're sharing the data. No one makes fun
065of me at Cottage Lane for loving data. I probably love it just as much as does. Um, but this is probably one of my favorite slides because it really it's like a hats off to our teacher teachers. The board said um last year they really wanted to see a focus on state test scores and they wanted to see those improve. Our teachers heard it and they said, "Okay, what can we do?" So, we jumped into it and we prepared kids a little better for the test without taking away that joy and excitement about learning. So, it's really just adding an extra layer. We focused on race and short and long responses. And if you look at our data, it it really paid off. So, this is a table that I created. It's cohort to cohort.
066So, if you look at the first table and you look at fourth grade, you see how much they improved from when they were in third grade to when they were in fourth grade. So, our ELA scores went up 14%. So, these are the same students who took the test. Uh we saw a 14% increase in ELA and a 9% increase in math in fourth grade. And for our fifth grade students, so again that's comparing it to their fourth grade scores, the same cohort of students, we saw a 26% increase in ELA and a 9% increase in math. That increase is the number of students who scored at level three or four on the state test. So that is proficient. Um, and then we have our overall performance levels. Um, which you can see range between
067the different the different grades. But I think it's important to highlight that we ranked number one in the county for third and fifth grade ELA and for fifth grade math. So we we're very happy with our scores. We know that there's still improvement. There always is, but overall there was so much improvement that was made last year. This fifth grade science score is slightly different because we're not comparing the same cohort of students. Of course, you're only in fifth grade one time. But if you look at the pass rate the previous year to last year, there was a 20% increase. So 20% more students scored at level three or four last year than the year before. So overall um we're really happy with the direction that our scores are moving. We understand that this is
068one measure and there are other measures that kind of say how well we're doing too, but we're very proud and we really have to give a shout out to our teachers who worked hard to make this happen. >> The end. Yeah. So, thank you everyone. >> So, just a few comments and observations and then I'll I'll turn it over to the board for any questions. Outstanding presentation. Um, this is something that we've been talking about for a long time and to see the intersection of the district goals and how the profile, the graduate, and the character ed and literacy and responsible use of technology really all intersect and support each other, especially when you're showing the rubrics from character ed to the profile. Children self assessing at the end of grade 2, grade 5, grade
0698, senior year, something that we've been working on for a long time. So, it was really great to see. Um obviously the literacy piece not just um starting last year but back when you had that group of kindergarteners and put in Heggerty and now those children are sitting in fourth grade. So it's many years of work um in the making and awesome to see. So thank you outstanding presentation. >> Any questions comments from the board >> or or the students >> or the students? They are on the board. >> Take it easy. I >> I don't want to cut anybody off, but I'm not there, so I can't see. But I I do want to say um I've heard nothing but great things about um IMSSE, and I think um Dr. Aretta and his office
070and the team leaders and the professional development, they've done an outstanding job. But I think Dr. pages really hit the nail on the head when she said she that our teachers get should get the kudos. I mean, for them to do this in such a short period of time and to get these kids where they need to be is great. So, I kudos to all of you um from Dr. Arietta down to the kindergarten teachers. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. We agree. >> They've been working really hard. They've been using planning period, every team meeting, like it's been a heavy lift and they've been working really hard. Um, so we're very grateful >> you all and and again it's it's I know that it was bringing new things in and something was named differently than
071it was before, but you guys have done a great job. Again, Dr. Arietta down to kindergarten teachers, you all have done a great job and I appreciate it. I can tell you that there's a lot of parents out there that do as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh also just before we conclude my superintendent report, I just want to thank the teachers from William O'Shea and Cottage Lane obviously um also our ESO uh reps for being here. It's greatly appreciated that you come out to support uh these presentations and it's great to see you all here and thank you again for a wonderful presentation. Looking forward to the secondary. will be presenting on uh Monday, November 3rd. >> Okay. Okay. Um All right. So, we we did have one more public commentary that
072just showed up a little bit after. Did you want to speak during public commentary, >> Barbara? Barbber. Harvard sign. >> Did you want to speak? >> Well, yeah, we we saw you came in late. You you know the protocol. >> We have a sign. Yeah, we already had public commentary, but we'll extend it to you since you'd like to speak. >> Barbello Bl. Um some of my grandkids, some who live with me are in the district at this time. >> Sorry, I can hardly hear. >> Uh my name is Barbad. Um I am uh Some of my grandkids are currently in the district in a couple of different schools. One of them lives with me. Um I wanted to first of all talk about AI in a time of cyber warfare um and the dependence
073on technology and education. I personally had a problem with my uh computer and I went to the people uh in Washington in the NSA and they found out that one of the things coming across my computer and I had a very limited number of friends was made in Russia cyber warfare place um so uh in some degree we have become so dependent on computers and and I think That's uh I hope you're really teaching a lot of critical thinking with that because um there's they call it AI but computers don't have intelligence. Whoever creates what goes into the computer, the programmers either here or overseas um is determining the content and that's really a very uh big problem. Sometimes safety when you talk want to talk about safety and in my personal experience sometimes safety
074is turning off the computers. Um second I wanted to talk about schools as an agent of social change. Um I came across a couple of things uh in my um act activism. Uh one is of course uh religion is really um decreasing in United States church attendance and of course across most of uh Europe as well. Um, and I know that the curriculum in this district has undermined the faith formation of my children. Uh, I also wanted to talk about um the feminist ideology because it seems to me that all of the characteristics that students are being taught uh today or many of them kind of uh value what back in my day was considered masculine characteristics. um aggressiveness, um strength, competitiveness, um you know, I was pushed an early person pushed into science because
075I was good at it. Um and uh another uh so so I think um we are not um teaching students uh to value and maybe even look for uh look as a lifetime of being nurturers. And in society, it's a problem because now we don't have people uh a lot of people, a lot of parents to take care of the preschool kids at home or to take care of our elderly. So now we're depending on government to pay for um nursing homes where we ship off our old people and they're horrible. I'm a nurse. And uh and also uh preschool. Um, and third, I happened to, which is kind of why I'm here, I happened to read a paper and then I followed up and I have the Ganet statistics right there that in when
076I was growing up and studying nursing and sociology and stuff, apparently two to three percentage of people identified as LGBTQ. And obviously some people were hidden behind uh in the closet, so to speak. But in among Gen Z today according to Ganet it's 21% of uh people and I wonder if there's any correlation between the schools stressing so putting so much stress on what were traditionally male characteristics as preferable to nurturing characteristics which in my day were considered more feminine and whether that has any impact on the the vast increase in people uh identifying as LGBTQ. So, thank you for listening. Uh on the religion piece, I kind of wish there could be a um because I really truly do believe, which is my one of my issues that um the schools today are harming
077the faith formation of kids. And I said it would be so simple. You could just have like a committee of rabbis, ministers, teachers, I mean curriculum people, um priests, and from the various uh you could have some atheists just to review curriculum and make sure what's being taught doesn't directly oppose what their religion is teaching. That's it. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. So we have any committee reports? >> Okay. All right. So board discussion on agenda items. We do have the one addendum and I while you guys see if there's anything that you need clarified before we can approve the agenda. Let me just read the addendum. Addendum one. Appointments. It is recommended that the board of education approve the provisional appointment of the following in accordance with
078civil service rules and regulations and independent contract and Quigley confidential secretary to the superintendent FTE 1.0 know location district office salary 87,500 prrated effective date 10225 and an quickigley district clerk location district office salary 10,000 prrated effective date 1022 20225 so that was the addendum can I have a motion to add the classified civil service personnel addendum Thank you, Katie. >> Thank Yes, Ross. >> Yep. Yep. All in favor? I >> Okay. And then a motion to approve amended consent agenda categories 8 through 11. >> Thank you, K. >> I'll give I'll give you the second. Thank you, Diana. >> All in favor? I >> All right. We have opportunity for new business. I know that we had to um circle around to discuss the um whether appointment or uh special election for filling in
079our vacant seat. Um I guess I'll just start off. So, we did get uh a good amount of public commentary and I and I thank the public for taking the time to do that. Um, in in what I saw, I saw something very similar to last year. Um, a portion of people that wanted um the special election, a portion of people that wanted um us to appoint someone. I actually feel like maybe there were a few more people um than last time that came out to to say they were uh supportive of the board if they went for an appointment. Um but I'll just speak to my own personal um experience and and what I saw and what I read. Um, I definitely feel like the concerns uh of impartiality and and really letting the
080the voters have the the final say. I think for for myself, I'm definitely still um I I would like a special election. I would like to stress that I I advocate for finding every way to save the money because that was um a concern that was brought up and and I had already that um I don't want to spend money that doesn't need to be spent on a special election that should be spent on the on the kids. And so I'm I myself am ready to say go ahead with a special election, but I'd like to see where the rest of the board is at so we can make that decision tonight hopefully. I agree that spending the money is not ideal, but I do agree with the special election. I don't think that I
081would agree also that there are many emails that came in more this time around that we should decide, but I don't think that should be upon us. I think that should be upon everybody else and that way it doesn't look as though anything was done behind the scenes. I think it's just a better overall outcome. But um I am for a special election unfortunately even with the money that will be spent. >> Well, and and to speak really quickly on the money. So, um Kathy, you do are we even able to get the machines? Are we for certain that we can get the machines? >> Well, again, it's the same as last year. There's a possibility that we may not be able to. >> Okay. >> But we might have to see the date and
082everything. And um the possibility of paper ballots is that that's not something that uh we would have trouble >> if we decided that route, right? Is that something that can be Have you ever >> do you foresee any challenges with signing for paper ballots? I mean >> maybe >> I mean normally >> Steve I I just want to clarify that >> if I may speak. >> Yeah, of course. >> I don't think she hears any think she's worried she's interrupting. >> Go ahead. I I do I am worried I'm interrupting. Um I just want to clarify you're good for an election because last year you were your concerns were that we were taking the money away from the students. So I just want to clarify that you're okay with an election this year. >> Yeah,
083I I I'm okay. I I I definitely want to um stress that I I am for paper ballots because I think the cost to the students if we went the route of paper ballots and the amount that I've seen of um voters that come out to these special elections uh tends to be um not at the level of a a general election the you know every um the one that we have in what is it May? >> Yes. Um, >> yeah. I just want to make sure that you're for it because last year you did make the statement that we were taking money away from the students and I want to make sure that I want to clarify that you're okay with it this year. >> I am for a special election and and my
084hope is that we don't need to spend the money that we spent right last year. >> If we can get by with doing that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. And I do I do feel like um the situation is a little bit different than than last uh year because it's it's not a first time uh for us and and I I don't think with with this situation happening sadly a second time um I don't I don't feel comfortable um myself choosing an appointment because I don't I I I've heard the cries from certain members members of the public and I definitely feel like they're valid and uh although I don't like to waste money, I I don't think it would be wasted. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm um if I can add my point,
085I'm in favor of an election. um dependent on you know what that comes out of either a paper ballot or using the machines the difference might be nothing I I I really wasn't able to hear Kathy answer that question or she could answer that question we have to wait for that answer >> the difference if we use paper ballots and not the um voting machines would probably be about and not the um the iPads to sign in it would probably be about 10,000 >> dollars difference. >> I would like to save that. >> Yes. So, we'll be aggressively um looking into >> money that could be used somewhere else. >> That's the the terms I like to use. >> Nope. I'm in agreement. I'd like to save that money, too. We could. >> I think
086that should definitely be something that we should consider saving and doing the paper. >> So, that's uh Rob, would you like to add anything? >> I was already for special. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So that seems like four members are in agreement with a special election. So um is there anything that we do? Okay. All right. Okay. Do I read do I read the proposed that or do I >> Okay. So I'll read the statement. Resolved that the board of education of the South Orangetown Central School District, Rockland County, New York, hereby calls a special district meeting of the qualified voters of the school district for the purposes of a special election to be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 to fill the vacant board seat as a result of the resignation of
087John Savage for a term of office effective December 16, 2025 and through June 30th, 2028. 8 and authorizes and directs the district clerk to give notice to the qualified voters of the school district of the special election to be held on December 16th, 2025. >> See what I read? >> Yep. A special district meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 to elect a board member for the seat of John Savage, who has resigned from the board of education effective September 25th, 2025. Nominating petitions will be available in the district clerk's office beginning Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025. The number of signatures needed on a candidate's petition is 45, 2% of the 2025 voting population. Petitions must be submitted to the office of the district clerk no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 17th,
0882025. For more information, contact the district clerk at 845-6801012. >> Second. >> Can I have a motion to >> call the special meeting? Thank you, Katie. >> Thank you, Rob. All in favor? >> I thank you everyone. All right. So, I know the students were quiet down there, but uh was there anything you like to add or you guys all set? >> Okay. I I could add something for them under new business. So, Mr. Brady and I had a chance to meet with Jawana Miriam uh I think last week or yeah last week and we're just talking about ways that they can get involved and they they want to represent all 3,000 close to 3,000 student voices across the district. And one of the things that they're going to help us with this year is
089when we do the school climate survey, they're going to spearhead the student portion of that survey and really have the kids have input into some of the longitudinal questions that we've asked in the past, but also what what we want to ask. So we appreciate you guys taking the lead on that. Excellent. >> All right. Motion to adjourn the meeting at >> something. Give me a thumbs up. >> Motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:41 p.m. >> Thank you, Katie. >> Thanks everyone for being here. >> All right. All in favor? I >> I >> Congratulations, An. Thank you for letting me >> congratulated you before you were appointed.