001had a long day. It's been a long day so far. or >> trying to find the where the meeting up on speaking with one voice came from >> one voice. >> Remember when the board decides on something you speak with one voice >> doesn't mean you what I meant to say last meeting. >> Okay, we're being recorded. >> Watch what I say over here. >> Hot mic. He's got a hot mic. It's nice of you to attend tonight. What happened to my emails? >> Thank you, Valent. Give me a microphone. I'll try not >> well-dressed high school senior. >> I know. >> Pretty good. >> Who keeps putting this capital project up on every single day? Oh, there it is. There it is again. Let's open up another page and see if it pops up
002again. >> Yes. Oh, there's a couple project. That's wrong. It's comical. You pointed it out with me. Are you ready? Yeah. >> All right. Um, so I guess I'd like to call this meeting to order. Can everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, so roll call. Um, Mr. Coleman here. Mr. Johnson here. Mr. here. >> Um, Miss Paglia, sorry, I'm losing my train of thought. >> Durk >> here. >> Danny >> here. >> I am here. Maryanne is excused for illness. Um, so may I have a motion and a second to approve the role? >> So move. >> Second. All in favor?
003>> I. >> Um, approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? >> Motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> um minutes of the previous meeting. Everyone have a chance to We're going to handle this a little bit different because we're one meeting in one. So um this this month um we have both our study and our um voting session. So any discussion on the previous meet minutes? Seeing none. Okay. May I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. Communications. Does anyone have any communications to share? >> We're going to do the PTAs at the end. >> Yeah, we're going to do anformational um session tonight.
004Okay. Um so that's good. We unfinished business. We have none. So that leads us to our superintendent report. Dr. Janestri. >> Thank you, Mr. Alati. Um trying to get our >> You got a have a code up there, Mike? >> Oh, there it is. Okay. Go. Okay. All right. Um so, a couple updates for the board tonight. Um first uh we had our meet the employee or meet the board night um tonight where we invited all of our sweet home employees um to come around and just have kind of cas casual conversations with the board. I want to thank um the members of SHA the members of Shassa and the members of our service uh organization um who were in attendance tonight. Um I think we had about 30 40 people here. It was a
005it was a good night. Um and um you know, we look to do that, look forward to doing that um event um probably again in the spring. Um and um we'll get feedback on how the format went and everything, but um we thought it was a pretty successful evening and um it was great to hear from from our employees. Uh we would like to update the board on on a recap and Dr. Wilson um is here to um talk about our superintendent conference day, what was covered uh and the feedback we received. Good evening everyone. You can go ahead to the next slide. On November 4th, we had superintendent conference day. So, it was a full day of learning across the entire district. The overview of offerings, we had a focus on elementary literacy, really
006looking at that early literacy, the work um from New York State and the shifts that need to happen across the state. um district-wide department meetings, music, art, counseling, PE, um related services, health, librarians, and then secondary departments, and you see them all listed there. Business, technology, world languages, family and consumer science, math, science, social studies, English. Our teacher aids engaged in a deescalation um strategies to support deescalation. Um and then across the entire district, everyone had the opportunity to um engage in restorative practices. um we really wanted to have this differentiated. We've had restorative practices the training going on for the last two years and so we worked to make sure that we had different levels as much as possible across the board to make sure that everyone had a foundational understanding of uh restorative
007practices and then each school each principal had an opportunity to have some specific sessions related to relationship building culture building across each community. Next slide. So as you see the results here, we always um try to get feedback so that we can take it and use it for um future sessions and we want to dig deep into or we always ask the question of how does this connect to your our strategic plan. So some big overarching items that came out of that uh pretty decent um return on folks participating 157 responses at the end of the day. Um we had an improvement of 28% as far as attendance. we um advertised the day in the sessions a couple of weeks out so that people could see what was coming. Um and again that opportunity or
008that focus on trying to meet everyone where they are um and honor all the different needs across the district was our emphasis this year as we planned on the committee. We had director Katie Barileri, director Dr. Kazakowski, um, assistant director Mercenelli, myself, um, and we did all of the planning and working along with the different principles. We had two principles join us, Mr. Lucenti and Mr. Perry. And as you can see the connections across the board that everyone had some way in which they connected and you'll see some feedback at the very end, some actual these are comments right from folks. the biggest connection, goal three, um, our restorative practices being a huge component of the day. You can see that was a big connection, but across the board, people had connections to goal one,
009two, and three. So, the range of topics we really wanted to dig into the science, the shift of science, the science of reading to make sure across all of our elementary schools, we're working to be at a point where we're offering consistency across all elementary schools and some direction from New York State um that we received coming out of last year and the work that we did going into the summer just to make sure we're still focused on that early literacy. So that continued across all of our elementary schools. We had vertical alignment for the counselors across the district. We want they wanted to focus in on college and career um and career readiness, excuse me, and student management. And so we had an emphasis there for them and we had an opportunity for them
010to share about how our students transition. Big point from 8th grade to 9th grade. Another group, another couple of groups wanted to focus in on increasing engagement. So the special subjects um uh those are the the um the the music, the arts, the pees, technology um all focused on either improving engagement or or um aligning to make sure that we're all set for our music fest, our art show that we're planning in the spring and so there was a lot of work around that. the secondary um core departments did some did a deeper dive into the portrait of a graduate across the core and what does that mean for them? What what does that mean for them going forward? Um how do they connect in that? You'll see a lot of that work coming out
011with the strategic plan and then culture building which is really really critical. People love it. Um and each school principal picked what they needed to to uh focus in on to help build culture across their school. that again that major emphasis we wanted to make sure that every single person was touched in some way around restorative practices. Next slide. So this is the big one um that made the most sense to show um it's that was our major component that we really wanted to make sure we hit across the board. Um and we asked a question about what you learned today in restorative practices. how how much do you think this will impact your um daily instruction? And so we saw that 85.4% said yes, they strongly agree or or agree, which is a major
012portion. And then there was a small number of neutrals and then a little bit of disagreeing, but for the overarching full focus of the day, um it was pretty good feedback. So this is tougher to read, right? but wanted to show you some some feedback. At the end, we asked people just an open response. Tell us what you think. How what worked well for you and what do you want to see improved going forward. So, I'll read just a couple. So, the plus is that's anything that they thought was great that worked well and there were so much there were so many comments to pull from there. And then the delta is anything they'd like to see improved. So on the plus um very positive day working with my colleagues, great circle experience. Thank you
013for the circle time. I needed more. I needed that more than I realized. And the overall theme of the day seemed to be belonging, building respectful and cherishing our students and staff in a as a happy uh part of the sweet home family. So that came right from a staff member. As part of the things that people asked to change, you see there's a number of comments there. Most of them were centered around we want more time. So I pulled out the suggestion for another superintendent's conference day is more additional uh department time. They really felt like it was very beneficial and they really wanted to spend more time talking about how they could build electives. um the instructors in the afternoon sessions. That's was our those were our um restorative practice sessions um had
014the most they had short time and so they really wanted to make sure that we send time next time we're able to bring them in. And the last one is I truly believe in the work of restorative practices and the elementary session felt more secondary. We like to see it shift to be more secondary. So it's good feedback for us to think about how do we plan going forward. I will take any questions. >> So, I have a comment and then a couple questions. Um, so we did just have a bunch of teachers in here this evening for the board uh meet and greet, whatever we want to call it. Um, and they did echo the sentiments in this that this was phenomenal to have time together and that they would love to have more
015of that. I think especially when it comes to um synergy between middle school and high school educators, it's really important to talk to one another. so that they can make sure that they are preparing their their babies for when they move up to the high school and so that those teachers can be prepared for what they're receiving. So, um I talked to probably three different groups that mentioned that because I asked like how did it go? How was superintendent conference day and this is what they said. Um the other the question that I had was two-part um around the restorative practices. Um was that training done by our staff by sweet home staff? >> It's a good question. So, we have two cohorts of of folks who have been trained. Last year, we had a
016cohort of folks who have gone through a full year, and we have a current cohort, too. I'm actually sitting through that session with them. Um, and they're halfway through the year. Um, we work with Erie County um, restorative justice coalition. And so, they we contracted with them to come in. Um, and so we made sure we spread out all of our cohort one and two folks so that they were in each circle so they could provide and add support to each circle because they were done in circles that those sessions. Um, and then we also used candles in the sun. We used them for our um for our challenge to change event and so they teamed up with them because we were trying to get to the whole district and so they were like we
017need some more people. So um and so we said okay let's see if we can branch out and pull two organizations together um Dr. Jedestry and I got to um be a part of the Heritage Heights circle. Um towards the end they they first went through a session of just understanding but foundationally um restorative practices and then they engaged in a circle. Um I thought it was very well done and um yeah so our our teachers really who have gone through cohorts one and two, they didn't want to lead the circles. We heard that loud and clear from them, but they did want to be able to lend a voice to the circle. I think the thing I enjoyed the most about it was learning about our colleagues from a personal and professional perspective. So,
018um, we walked in there and not really knowing what to expect and the participation that from the group at Heritage was incredible and, uh, I think I think they got a lot out of it that day. Yeah, the the the um session the circle was focused on eventually it focus once we got past the introdu introduction of it was focused on how do you manage when you're overwhelmed and now take that and apply that to when students are feeling overwhelmed. They don't know how to manage it as well as we do, right? Because we're adults. We've been doing it for some years, right? How could you model what you just did with us to share your strategies with students who might be trying to figure out how they cope and manage? So, it was it
019was a good session. >> A qu quick question. I know it's an overview of results. You had 28% reduction in absences. Is is that absences of participants? >> Yes. So, we we we'd like to advertise what we're going to be working on in advance. Um and so we feel like that helped to you know really improve engagement >> but it is a a day that is required. >> Yes, it is a work day. >> Okay. So if it's I mean it seems that I guess the fact that that's being highlighted would indicate to me that that may have been a problem in the past. So over the years depending on how each where things fall in the year where we are as far as um what's going on in the greater community um that that
020day becomes a problem. So there we've had in the past I'll give you an example um a connection to St. Patrick's Day. I don't know if I should and that so shifting the dates that way and then making sure we advertise in advance to really connect with people. So, >> okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood what >> Y. >> Thank you. >> Can you uh define restorative justice for me? What it means? >> So, this is restorative practices. So, there's two different things. Restorative justices um is not what we're doing. We're actually focused on restorative practices. Um and I'll give you the difference. So, restorative practices is focused on relationship building. It's about getting to know who you are as an individual and how you um contribute to that community so that
021if there's harm that happens to that community, you can think about what what can be done to help heal that community, right? Uh depending on what that harm could be, right? Um, restorative justice, which is something separate, um, is more tied to consequences and going through a an opportunity to, um, use that kind of thinking, the restorative practice thinking to replace a consequence. It is the best way to describe it. We are actually focused on restorative practices, which is more about relationship building. It's about making connections to community and supporting everyone overall. Okay. Thank you. >> Other questions? >> Thank you, Dr. Wilson. >> Yeah. >> I'd like to thank Dr. Wilson and her team for putting such a great day together. Um um a lot of positive feedback. So, um good to see you
022and a lot to build on. Um, as I've said u for the past few months, we're reminding everybody that our capital project vote is on December 16th, 2025. Um, our PTO, PTA, PTSA sessions are all complete. They were um overwhelmingly positive. I really really enjoyed the crowds and the presentations and we thank the PTO, PTA, PTSA presidents for hosting us um at their at their meeting and um putting a big chunk of time on their schedule or on their agenda for us uh to present the project um to their parents and um lot of great questions um on both uh propositions, Proposition One, Proposition Two. Um I included the presentation link um in this um slide right here so anybody who wants to click on it um can get all the details on the capital
023project. Um and then of course we'd love to get as many people out to our auditoriums uh as possible. November 24th at 6:30 p.m. in the high school and December 10th at 6:30 p.m. in the middle school auditorium um where we will be uh presenting the project. Um we we have a video that we're going to unveil that night um on the importance of the project. Um and we also um will be doing a question and answer period um with the audience that night. So looking forward to both uh both nights um being fully transparent um and and making sure that our community is well informed before they go to the polls on December 16th. Um we're also entering concert season. So, I put the uh schedule of concerts up between now and the end
024of the um uh December, I'll say, u before we get into the holiday break. Um so, you'll see a bunch of things on there. Uh and our music department does such a great job around the holidays um with all of our students and we want to make sure those events are highlighted and make sure that um uh they're well attended. Uh I also put a link down there for the music department's um website and uh with a list of all the uh um concerts but also all the events that they are hosting um and um a newsletter on there as well. Uh December 5th we'll host our by annual meetat raffle the dollars for scholars program. This is a major fundraiser for them. Um, last year they passed out over $108,000 in scholarships to over
025a hundred of our seniors. Um, and so, uh, this is always a soldout event. Fun fun fun night. Um, we wanted to just make sure our public knew that on December 5th, um, they can come to our meet raffle and support a great cause. Please call 7162501424 for tickets and more information. And are we close to selling out? I >> Getting there. Getting there. Getting there. So, it's >> a bit of a more of a slow mover than in years past, but it'll still be a great night. >> Get your uh get your tickets now. >> Who doesn't want a big hunk of meat? >> It is a fun night. If you've never been, you should come because it is fun, >> believe it or not. >> And then, uh, we just found out about
026this today and I don't know if Dr. Wilson wants to say anything too, but um Ann Noak is a legend when it comes to family support and mental health um for youth in Western New York. And we found out today that there was a well we knew there was a mental health summit at the Buffalo Convention Center and that a an um received the school-based professional impact and leadership award. Um, I didn't have enough time to get her here tonight and or enough time to even tell her I was doing this, but I really thought she should be honored because it's a it's a huge honor for an and it's and it's a huge honor for Sweet Home. Um, our our uh family support center is well known around the state as one of the
027first in the state. Um, and an continues to grow the network of of family support centers around Western New York. Um we were here last month for um her meeting um of the smart initiative and the room was absolutely packed here in Virgil's um and an uh led the way. Um so the summit today was to bring experts and practitioners and advocates to share knowledge and strategies to improve mental health and um boy there's nobody I don't know if there's anybody more um qualified or or knowledgeable about the services in Western New York than Anne Noak. they they swore us to secrecy as of yesterday. Um but she um the connections that Miss Noak has across the community and the supports that she brings. um just just today sitting with the middle school and they
028were going through and and reviewing our students through the MTSS model, the multi-tered systems and supports and this the social emotional focus and it was it was connection after connection that we received through um Miss Noak and her support through the family support center um that they were able to echo. So um just a huge huge um benefit and plus to Sweet Home. So, I'm going to make sure we recognize her. That's what we have tonight. Any questions? Oh, and one more thing I wanted to uh mention um before I um sign off with this report. Um uh up for vote tonight um is our new director of buildings and grounds, Emily Morazzi. And Emily is here with us um this evening. You want to wave, Emily? Uh there she is. Uh we are very
029excited to present Emily to the board of education uh tonight here at Sweet Home. Um this was a uh very long and and uh tedious search uh but we absolutely landed on a rockstar candidate and we are super excited um as my phone continues to blow up from her friends at Hamburg about how bad they are in Sweden. So um we are we're we're thankful that she's here tonight. Um, and we're thankful that she's going to be a Panther um, very soon. Uh, we have a lot of work ahead of us as we know. Um, we take great pride in our facilities. Um, and Emily presented it that way um, in every step of her of her candidacy. Um, she was the unanimous pick of the of the committee. Um, hands down unanimous pick of
030the committee. Um, and her work is essential um, for keeping our our buildings wellmaintained and safe. But as we move into this $90 million capital project, um her expertise is going to be even more valuable um come then. So um Don, I don't know if you want to say anything, but we are really really excited to have Emily with us and here tonight. >> I would just echo many of the things that you said. Um I'm a big I'm a firm believer and that things happen for a reason. Hi Emily. Uh and um uh you know it it was a long and arduous process and we are so happy. I personally am very happy that Emily has landed here at Sweet Home. Uh similarly, my counterpart at Hamburg gave me an earful on Friday about
031why we're stealing her. Um but from that standpoint, uh you know, she Emily was far and away the best candidate, the best interview. Um her expertise in the area of custodial, uh that piece of it will will be um she'll be on top of. and then she's been a a huge part of the capital project at Hamburg. So, she's ready to kind of step in and lead us hopefully on a $90.5 million project. But I am beyond thrilled that you're here. Uh fellow Southtowner, so I like that. Uh and uh just would want to give a shout out to Dr. Shybe in the audience as well for helping us uh through the process um to get to Emily. Um welcome and and congratulations. I prematurely but congratulations. >> So will she come on board before
032Steve leaves and >> there will thank that's a great question that uh there will be a crossover. So there will be training and um so we thank Mr. Rosler too. He's he's been a wonderful um director of buildings and grounds here for the past 10 years and uh um but he's willing to help in any way, shape, or form because he >> big shoes, but I'm sure you can handle it. >> Yeah. >> Welcome aboard. >> Will you be car pooling? >> I honestly I'll offer. She's a little further than I am, so you know, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. >> Very good. >> Especially on those snow days. >> Yeah. Well, you know, snow is all relative when we're in the north towns versus the south towns. >> This is what
033I'm saying. >> I'd like to joke and say Don doesn't get up that early, but I know he does. So, >> anyhow. >> Very good. >> All right, that's all I have. Thank you. >> All right, so items of interest. Uh Dr. Dr. Janestri covered a lot with the um the dollars for scholars meet raffle, the schedule for all of our concerts and the um the capital project uh town hall meetings. Um but we do have you know I know this week we had winter sports tryyouts. So good luck to all prospective athletes. Um Glendale was holding a super change battle. Uh we have a couple of uh picture retakes. Willow Ridge this week. Um, uh, Heritage Heist has a turkey truck coming up. Um, drop everything in lead at Maple. Um, and then as
034we move into December, we have high school and middle school parent teacher conferences on December 4th. Um, and elementary half day um, preK to 5 on December 5th. Um and just a scheduling reminder for December because um we are doing things a little bit different in December. Um our study session will be on Tuesday, December 9th. Our voting session meeting has been moved to Monday, December 15th due to the vote being in this room on um Tuesday, December 16th. So, just a reminder for for everybody that our our our second um voting session, our second board of ed meeting in December um is actually going to be on Monday, December 15th, not our normal Tuesday. Um any questions on those items of interest? Okay, that leads us to our first open session per board policy
0351510. This open session is for topics related to tonight's agenda. Is there anyone interested in speaking? >> Good evening. Jamie Mancin. I live at 276 Glenn Haven Drive and I am here to talk Glendale PTA. Believe it or not, we are rounding out our third month. So, it's our first little quarter here um of the school year, and I wanted to provide some updates on some of the things we've accomplished so far at Glendale. In the month of September, we sold almost $10,000 in cookie dough. And we were really proud of that fundraiser. It was the first time we did it uh with Mrs. Fields. And we also held our PTA chicken dinner at our open house, which was another sellout for us this year. Thank you to everyone who came out that night. In
036October, we had our MC Teacher Night. It was fun to see the staff out and about with the kiddos. Um, always a crowd-pleaser. The kids are always fascinated. The teachers are out outside of school, so that's always fun. And we had a wildly successful trunk or treat in October as well. This month, we actually had a fundraiser at Texas Roadhouse, who is a really great sponsor with us. They do a lot for our school community, do a lot for our teachers and staff. Um, and so we held a Glendale night there. It was so awesome to see everyone out that night as well. As mentioned, we have a super change battle this week, which uh has been really fun. I've been in the building this week for that. It's essentially where certain coins are positive
037and certain coins are negative. And uh the classes have to try and get their grade level to have the most points by the end of the battle. It's really interesting to watch the math skills come into play and all the Panthers come by with their change every morning. Uh trying to decide if they should sacrifice that dollar ice cream money to get their grade level ahead or to sabotage another grade. Um it's been super fun to help the kiddos work through some of those decisions and see all those decision making skills in action. Um and so we'll see how that turns out by the end of the week. But so far, second grade is leading the charge. We also have a STEM night this week. It's our first one uh of two that we have
038this year. It's for grades three through five. And we'll have a robotics team come in to work with the Panthers on assembling robots. Um we actually have an engineer coming in to teach um actually a woman coming in to teach girl power uh in the STEM industry. And then we have our nerd nerdy derby back which is them building race cars out of uh different recyclables. I am very proud and pleased to announce that our PTA was honored with three membership awards from the New York State PTA this year. We earned the Horizon membership award for our theme and our campaign and our savvy membership and early bird membership awards because we reached the goal of membership that the New York State PTA sets out for us. We actually have increased our membership by 63%
039year-over-year and we're really proud of that. We're also working um with the national PTA to become a designated school of excellence at Glendale. And what that entails is we put out a survey trying to get feedback from our Glendale community on ways that they can get more involved in the building and within Panther Learning in general. and we take that information back and come up with a plan and we submit that to the national PTA and then we implement that plan this year and then we do another survey to kind of see how that went and and the results from that and if the national PTA thinks that we've done the work needed we'll become a designated uh school of excellence and so we're really excited to do that work this year and hopefully at
040by the end of the year I can successfully share that we've earned that designation. We have a few events coming up in December, believe it or not. I know it's a short month, but we have a roller skating party at Rainbow Rink. If anybody wants to come skate with us, it's on December 4th. You're welcome to come. We have our Merry Moo shop, which is from December 9th to the 12th. If anyone would like to volunteer, you're welcome to stop by. It's always so fun to shop with the kiddos um and get them excited about celebrating whatever holiday it is that they celebrate. And then we have a winter wonderland event on the 18th which will be doing holiday photos for families um for those who might not be able to afford or get those
041photos from elsewhere. Um we have the Grinch stopping by. It's going to be a good time. So you're welcome to join us for that as well. And that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jamie. >> Good luck with that designation. That's great. >> Any other takers? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to new business. Um, we're going to handle things a little bit differently tonight. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through each of the items individually for discussion and then we'll go back and do the consent agenda for the vote so everybody's aware of what's going on. Um, so letter A, uh, is special education and preschool placements. Um, Maryanne did send me a report. Um, she did read all 80 pages and um, she has no
042questions. >> Same here. I actually got through them all this time. I had a schedule. Um, monthly financial reports policy 2140. Any questions on those? They were all in our packet. Okay. Um, disposal of obsolete property policy 5250. There is a lot of kitchen equipment, cleaners, textbooks, computer and tech equipment, a vacuum, and we are auctioning off an older truck. Correct. >> Okay. Any questions? >> That's already been purchased. >> The the the truck we bid, correct? The funds that we recoup from this auction will offset the cost of the new truck. >> Nice. >> So, uh, we were guaranteed from the dealership. we were guaranteed uh a certain dollar threshold uh as a tradein. So, we set our auction price at that threshold and we received $5,000 more. So, um >> Cool. Better than
043>> they coming to get it? >> Yes. >> I see it's a long ride. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. They are coming to get it. They have to part of the deal. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Um Okay. corrective action plan in response to the external auditor's report and I believe this was on extra class accounts. >> Yeah, we had two designations on the audit um on the management letter. Um the first was both were related to um the extra class accounts. The first was they sampled 25 transactions from 25 different clubs. And there's a um kind of a ledger sheet that they need to fill out when they do deposits or withdrawals that basically says this was my starting balance, this is either my deposit or withdrawal, and this is my ending balance. There
044were five of the 25 that they sampled that didn't do the math and didn't have um the the ending balance. So, we'll incorporate that into the training and and that kind of thing from that. And then the other one was uh the auditor has recommended that uh we clo we have two elementary um extra classroom accounts, one at both at Glendale, one a Glendale Library Helpers Club and the other a science club. uh they suggested based upon the age group that uh is um involved K to five that we would kind of disband those clubs because their their feeling was that the kids aren't of the appropriate age. My retort in in the corrective action plan was that for officers of those clubs, we would look to make those fifth graders uh so that they
045can handle kind of the math piece of it from that end of it so that they can transition into clubs that are in the middle school and do the same. Uh so the auditors were good with that and that's what we put in the corrective action plan. Any questions? All right. Uh moving on. Um Sweet Home Girls Wrestling Program. Um, I believe we were approached by Amherst Central School District for them to have one. >> It's actually a couple more, five or six. So, >> perfect. That's good. And they're going to help us with the coaching costs. Um, acceptance of donations. Any questions? Okay. Um, capital project vote policy 1611. um our chief in chief election inspector which is uh Miss Custodi. Um our inspectors of election um Patrick Connor, Irving Fletcher, Ida Paw, and
046Gloria Mekiac. Um any questions on those? Um we have two overnight field trip requests. Um, varsity baseball going to Myrtle Beach from April 4th to April 11th and boys swimming going to Churchville Chilai um January 16th and 17th. We also have an emergency transportation contract um with Buffalo Transportation Inc. Quickly, Dan, could you explain what that what we're doing with that? What? Obviously, we don't need kids names, but but it's >> the the emergency contract >> what it's going to be. So this young man is being placed at an out of an out of district placement um from and and his placement now is in Hamburg High School. There's a Boseis program in Hamburg High School. Uh he will be uh on a small bus driver with a transportation aid uh to and from uh
047Hamburg High School every day from home. Uh there will be four days a week. On the way home he goes to a respbit program. he'll go to that respit program Monday through Thursday that they will drop him off at that respit program and then on Friday he will be taken to his home uh from that standpoint. So uh it was something you know we entered into the emergency contract with Buffalo Transport. We have 30 days uh we're working through a couple of things that maybe we can do it in-house going forward. Uh but if not we'll have to put it out to bid uh for a permanent contract from that standpoint. >> Thank you. Yep. Okay. And then last, we have our official bank deposiitories. All right. So, any question on any of the new
048business? Okay. So, may I have a motion and a second for uh consent agenda items A through J? >> Pete. Pete, let me Peter, I'm sorry. >> Sorry, Drew. >> Just back on the uh elementary school fundraising and can is it just generally not a good thing to do that? Is that is that like a state law or >> It's not a state law. It's just their inter it's just their recommendation more so than anything else. Uh basically when we had our meeting with them to go over the findings, they basically said it's at really at the district's discretion. Um and I felt as though that you know my argument was that with kids in fifth grade as they transition to the middle school, they'll be doing similar work in similar clubs to get them
049started. They are both viable clubs. They both have excellent adviserss, faculty adviserss. So I don't foresee it as an issue at all. >> Are they generally run in conjunction with the PTA? Is that >> They are not. >> They are separate from the PTA. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? Okay. So, may I have a motion and a second for consent agenda items A through J? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> um against abstensions. Okay. Um that leads us to information items. Um Mr. Coleman, the floor is yours for our student report. All right. We had a productive start to November of the 2025 26 school year. Um, seniors work through uh college deadlines, including the November 1st early decision deadline and the
050close of the Sunni free application window on November 3rd. Uh, we'd like to thank Mr. Heriger uh helping us with Common App and he came and visited English classes and helped us like helped us put together our applications essentially. Uh juniors also um completed their first PSAT and attended the college fair and met with representatives from different schools about college. Um, October was filled with a lot of different Halloween events and student government ran a our spirit week and we had our annual Halloween costume contest where there were 12 um winners. Um, students in AP World and National Honor Society volunteered at Willeridge and Glendale for their trunk or treat events. And during our last or not last, our October 29th meeting, committees share their goals, including the plan to complete senior tiles before winter
051break. Um, at our most recent meeting, student government discussed creating a gratefulness tree, which is now being put up in the main foyer where anyone can just write like on the leaf of a tree about what they're thankful or grateful for, and it'll just be displayed for anyone to see. Um and we also began planning on spring activities we have for the year such as um field day and trying to reopen the courtyard. Um our updates from our committees first athletics committee. We proposed um coach and athlete bonding workshops and expanding mental health support systems for student athletes as well as um reopening back the fitness center after school and reinstating the sports events calendar on the morning announcements to let the schools know what uh events or games are going on for each sports
052team. our student life and DEI committee uh talked about reinstating the peer tutoring mentor program with a teacher approved tutors. So essentially like students um being able to help either students in their class, younger students on um any like homework or assignments they need help on help with. And we also talk about bringing back student of the month because I mean you see the athlete of the month toward the athletic hall and we felt it would be good to recognize academics and the hard work students put towards that. And our sustainability, wellness, food and nutrition committee discussed increasing cafeteria meal and snack options and exploring partnerships potentially with local restaurants to see if something can be worked out with them on like providing more food options. Um, our music and arts committee suggested um trying
053to reserve more space like maybe the ceiling tiles for the art hallway that the um senior I forget what art class it is but they like paint the walls essentially and when it fills up they just want to have a sectioned off space for them to continue painting as years come. And lastly, our technology committee um discussed um more use with the student ID uh maybe with past systems including like swiping them in or scanning them when you're coming into the school or using them for your um lunch. And I also helped to restore our YouTube access for educational use and hope to meet with Mr. Lenny to discuss these ideas because there were teachers who had who like who essentially used YouTube in their class for like videos or whatever and now we're unable
054to. So, >> thank you Scott. >> I'm going to leave the majority of it for next meeting, but just a couple of quick things. The event we had in advance today was awesome. I think it was well worth our time spending being able to sit here and talk with their teachers and staff. That worked out really well. Um last week our area county association of school boards legislative team did a um legislative dessert form. Instead of doing the breakfast and dinners we've done in the past and we changed it around a little bit so that instead of us doing most of the speaking about our issues, we spent a little bit of time up front with myself and two others spoke about the issues but in brief and then spent more time getting to talk
055with our elected officials have been there who were there. Um I think that worked out well. They seem to enjoy it more. Um, I managed to get stuck with five different people that they're not even all from our district obviously because we don't have them any reps from our district, but just to start getting my points across and then get some followup from them. Um, and third was uh last week the middle school invited us over for their breakfast of champions thing where they were recognizing all the kids on the honor roll and I thought that worked out really really well. It was great. Cafeteria was full. It's awesome to see. That's enough for now. >> Thank you. Um Amy, >> um I attended the high school PTSA meeting for Scott. You're welcome. >> Um
056they had a a lot to say in terms of things that are going on in the building. Um they're doing the restorative circles. They're being used in classrooms. They said it's doing going extremely well. Uh their chess team, all I wrote was doing amazing because I could not keep up with the litany of things that are going on with the chess team. Um but they're doing really well. Girls varsity soccer won a sportsmanship award um that I believe is sectionwide. Um but they are doing really well. The they announced the middle school and the high school musicals that are going to be this year. This year the middle school is doing High School Musical Junior and the high school is doing Spongebob. Um and news to me and I don't know if anybody else at
057the table knows but the junior prom is coming back. Yep, >> it is. So, it will be separate from the senior prom. I did not know that that that was even a conversation that was being had, but they are very excited to to have the junior prom back. >> I I had a uh junior reach out to me um who happens to be my neighbor um over the summer and asked if it was possible to get the uh junior prom going and we met with her this summer. I met with her this summer and then um when Mr. Luceni came on board, he was absolutely for it. And I know Mr. Feldman has helped out with it as well. So, there was a lot of interest last year um about the junior prom coming back.
058And I got to give um um this this one junior uh credit because she really advocated for it. So, Abby, >> I think the day is May 16th and it's going to be here at the school. It's going to be a little more casual as opposed to formal. Uh but uh I too am very grateful that it's coming back and uh under the leadership of uh Mrs. Lisa Fay who's the junior class adviser. She we met with her and the kids have a lot of great ideas. She's got a lot of kids that want to be part of it. So uh I think it it's going to be a big success. I do. >> I I would second that. It sounds like it's my when I was in school it was the junior senior prom
059combined. So I never had a separate one. Um, but knowing that it's coming back, I know my girls both mentioned junior prom many a times when they were juniors. Um, so I I'm happy to hear it's coming back. It's going to be great. >> Yep. >> I was just wondering, do you know does the junior prom does that affect like because I know like the deposit they like the juniors fund raise for class council, it goes toward their senior prom. So, will the junior prom affect that at all or is that still like separate? >> I think that's separate. >> Well, no. So, Javon, um, what'll happen is is we set a budget for the junior prom such that there's enough money left over to make the deposit for the senior prom for the following
060year. So, it will not impact it at all. >> All right. All right. >> Durk. Well, I don't know if we've talked about the NISSBA convention at all. >> No, I was going to hold that for next time. >> Oh, next time next month. >> No, you can if you'd like. I was just >> Okay. Well, um otherwise it's the Heritage Heights PTA meeting I attended last week, I believe. Seems like we haven't been here in a while. So, anyways, uh they're struggling a little bit with membership. I I did talk to them about what Glendale's doing and I think I'm a little envious myself, but uh they talked about their turkey trot and the fact that they may have to do it indoors and um Mr. Perry, I thought he'd be here tonight, had
061some concerns about safety. I don't know if you've heard anything about that. Is there a safety issue with having it indoors instead of outdoors? >> No. And I thought I thought if it was going indoors, it was a weather related. That's the last time I heard about it. So, um Okay. I I'll follow up on with them on it. >> Okay. Again, it looks like they have uh many events uh planned for to raise funds, which is I think a good part of what GTA do and generally they are excited about the building project. Uh I didn't try to discourage any of that. I asked them to make sure they get out and vote. It's required and needed. Um we can talk about NIVA next time. Uh I is this the paper that we had
062a couple of our folks in there and >> the back of their head. >> Huge celebrities just saw the back of my head. >> I got my >> You'd like me to sign it afterwards if I'll keep it right here for you. But Larry Love it. Larry Le. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> For goodness sakes. He's still around. >> Yeah. >> Um it's interesting to see him. >> Yeah. I figured it was like contractual that we couldn't get your faces so that you know eyes or something. So >> back to your heads. >> Well, exactly. They got my best side. >> Anyway, so I I did I'll just talk about one particular item. the main or the uh speaker on the first day talked about dignity and I I found that to be very interesting and
063timely in the world of craziness that we have and just the simple fact that if you just spend a little bit of time and try to understand the fellow that's speaking across from you even if you don't agree with them and how much better off we would all be. So, I really I I I found that to be pretty special. And even though he was referenced as one of the Kennedys, I I I I still like Kennedy's even though on the other side I didn't get to walk back from the boat ride, by the way. I had to take a cab, which was an experience even getting one from down there, but I got back okay. Hope you guys walked okay. I just wasn't up to that. Thank you. Anyways, that's all I have. Nice.
064>> Danny, you can follow that. >> I don't know if I can or not. >> Um, but after night one of the conference, he called me and he was like, "Hey, I the speaker that we had tonight was like so great. You know, we've had conversations about this before about that dignity aspect of things." And so, we had a a good debrief. I was kind of jealous because I can never go to these things. So, >> let me on that note, let me say this. I Hentown was there. They made a presentation. Their entire board was there. Guys, it's worth it if you can find it in your schedules to attend some of these conferences. It's just kind of the networking and the interesting things that the districts do different than what we do and
065some of the things we can learn from that. So, >> it's back in Buffalo next year, right? >> So, next year I'll throw down in the same vehicle. >> Yeah. I don't know if I could do that. probably. >> There's only so much right there. >> Oh, thank you. Um, no, you're fine. Um, I attended the Glendale PTA meeting. Um, I have no updates for that because Jamie did a slamming job um talking. I wrote it all down just as fast as I could and wow, you do a lot. So, thank you for um making magic happen for our kids. It's phenomenal uh what Glendale um is able to do. Um, outside from that, um, just one one personal note. I wanted to say thank you so much to Dr. Janestri and, uh, Katie Barileri
066and, um, Miss Daria, uh, middle school and Miss Matis at the middle school um, for helping us out these last couple of weeks. Um, my little boy has returned to district and he is at the middle school now. Um, I'm going to cry if I talk about it anymore, but I'm just I'm so incredibly grateful for the network of support and the wonderful educators that we have here for our kids. Um, it is priceless. So, thank you so much. That's all I got. Brian. >> Yeah. I um just attended the PTSA meeting for the middle school on um first Monday of the month and that was um presentation by uh superintendent and Mr. Feldman on the on the capital project. So, I thought they did a great job there and seemed to get some good
067questions and and interest and um also they're working on fundraising and they have a unique or what I think is an interesting idea that was done uh by one of the parents there at another group um which is a uh uh gift card raffle. So, they're going to in in the um this particular individual said they've raised quite a bit of money by doing this. So, hopefully that'll be successful for them. Um the only other thing I wanted to mention is that um Amy mentioned the chess club in the high school doing well. We we do have at at Willidge a nationally ranked chess student. So, there may be some opportunity >> in high school too. um >> I think so >> for recruiting and maybe that's our next maybe we can make it to
068uh whatever the championship might be in chess. >> Yes, I believe there's one in the high school too. A ninth grader nationally ranked >> and and actually Willow Ridge is starting a chess club. Um so >> he is a Willow Ridge student. >> So maybe that's why >> maybe there's a connection. >> Yes, their family connection. >> I don't know. I'm guessing. Anything else? >> That's it for me. >> Okay. So, um I attended the Willowidge PTA meeting which the majority of it was the Janestri Feldman show for the capital project presentation. Um but they they they have been doing fundraising. They did extremely well on their fund run. Um I know that um Brian's wife was in charge of that. Um I think was over $20,000 they raised on it. Correct. Yeah. Um, and
069they're using it for a is I it's the outdoor sports court, the sport court is what they want to put in there. Um, so you know, phenomenal for them. Um, but yeah, that was the PTA meeting was kind of mostly on the the capital project presentation. Um, I also on October 27th I went to the first unified flag football game that was here. It was actually it was a multi-game. There was Orchard Park, Salamea, and Hamburg here, and they rotated um roundroin game is what I want to say. So, each team played each other. So, they played four mini games. Um it was kind of it was really exciting to see the the kids the kid the kids um play the unified flag football. Um so, kudos actually to um Kelly Corkran and Mr. Monaco
070from the middle school. They are the coaches um for for getting that um started and involved with the students. But that's all that I've got. So, We all anything else? Okay. Um that leads us to open session number two. Would anyone like to address the board? Um they would have three minutes to speak. Um if you do, please state your name, address, and relationship to Sweet Home Tickers. Okay. So, moving on to personnel. We're going to do personnel much like we did um our new business. Um so, we have teaching administrative. We have a few retirements that have been brought to us. Um some appointments for tenure, uh regular appointments, encumbered appointments, um some leave of absences, uh reinstatement from leave, um long-term substitutes, um and substitute couple of student teachers and our intercolastic um
071activities and um interscolastic uh coaches um on the docket for um teaching and administrative um for service. Uh we do have a a couple of couple of retirements, a couple of res resignations, a termination. Um we have some appointments, um a transfer, um a leave of absence, a reatement from leave and a change in our pertium or and our pdium substitutes. Um any questions or discussions on personnel service or um teacher and ad administration? >> So where is there no grounds person? Where is she at? >> Um that would be under the appointments for uh the regular appointments in service which would be Roman numeral 2 number two. >> Okay. And uh so some of the comments I heard tonight in in our casual conversation with staff was the lack of substitutes. Are we having
072difficulties with substitute and does this kind of help >> problem? >> Yeah. >> So um I can I can offer up uh uh just some comments on that. Uh it's always I think every school district in Western New York is strugg struggles with substitutes. We're fortunate here um that the board has allowed us to have a very good rate um to pay our substitute teachers. I think it's one of the best, if not the best, in in Western New York. Um we have hundreds of substitute teachers available to us. Um and we usually have a great fulfillment rate if we have some kind of notice on there. Where we get where we struggle is the morning call-in um is where we struggle the most on it. um because it's very difficult to find somebody at
073six o'clock in the morning to come in um and fill a role. So um we're working on it. This is something that we've engaged a conversation with our administrators on um because uh they're they're concerned as well. Uh but unfortunately not not necessarily a a um a new topic. It's something that we're always we're always trying to fill those roles. Uh but it but with Dr. Shibbe's help. Um we're we're we're coming up with some different alternative ideas and solutions uh that can help address it um districtwide. >> Okay. But uh there was talk is there an increase? So our our rate is there. We have rate that's competitive. Okay. >> I think it's the second best in Western New York. Second best in Western. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions or
074comments? Okay. So, may I have a motion and a second on personnel items one and two, teacher administrative and service? >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Congratulations. >> You're official now. Okay, that leads us to our the end of our regularly scheduled agenda. Um, may I have a motion and a second to adjourn this meeting to executive session um to discuss negotiations, employment and employment history of an individual. Make the motion to aur.