001And then one of our Spanish teachers, Crystal Chavez, >> she's also best friends with the video does our hair. So she was there. >> So they were there. >> Bonnie puts up there's like there's five of us on the phone together while I'm like things are printing done. >> A >> yeah. >> Did the exchange students leave yet? Um yes, >> they left two days ago. Monday. >> Yeah. >> Monday or Friday? Monday. Monday. That was one day ago. >> Seems like two days ago. My girls are still in touch with Ma who was our exchange student that we had living at the house. >> Disappointing. >> It's uh Dan does. I mean >> so good. >> I feel bad because I couldn't take anybody in. >> I mean you got your >> Maybe that'll
002make it. >> I don't feel that bad. I would trouble at home. But >> I don't think so. >> Okay. >> Dr. Jester, you're going to share. >> I can uh definitely share. >> I will find a way to get it to you. >> Okay. But I'll make a um a bottle for you to the kids. It is so different. >> Okay. >> Total other level. >> Making a bottle of Bailey's or something. >> No. Crack hot chocolate. >> Oh, >> delicious. Really? But >> how's the temperature? Everything good in here today? >> I'm pretty good. I'm I'm vested up. I'm pretty good. >> 74.1 degrees. >> I'm liking it. I'm liking it. I didn't put my gloves on, so >> we just wanted to double check. >> We're good. >> Right. Okay. >> You
003know, I'm not sure. >> Well, it changes, you know. >> Yeah. >> I know my daughter. >> So, I prompted the new guy last time to make sure he pipes up. That's you >> opinion. Your opinions matter. I'm just prefacing >> prefacing that. So >> you got your stupid ready to read. >> Oh boy. We survived. So they're based. I thought there was a girl named while for queuing it up. >> Okay, I wanted to thank everybody for their patience. Um, just to let everybody know, we did call the meeting to order at 6:10 this morning uh this evening. Um, we set the pledge of allegiance. Roll call and then we adjourned immediately adjourned into executive session at 6:11 um for matters relating to employment of a particular individual. We adjourned executive session at 6:45
004and action was taken. Um so that moves us to the next point is the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and second to approve the agenda? >> Make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> and minutes of the previous meeting. May I have a motion and a second to approve the previous or the approve the minutes of the previous meeting? Motion to approve previous uh minute meetings from the previous meeting from the previous minutes from >> second. All in favor? >> I >> um communications. Does anyone have any communications to share? >> No, it's just we'll talk about stuff at the end of the meeting. >> Yes. >> Actually, I just wanted I love the cards. Did everybody get your cards in the mail?
005I think this is a great >> great way to let our community know and give them more information. >> Good job. >> Lot more to come. >> Good. >> Um unfinished business. We have none. So, uh Dr. Jenry, floor is yours. >> Thank you, Mr. Volante. Um just a few items to update the board on. I know um I don't know if now if is the time you want to do the self-reflection or after but um >> um you do your report first do the self-reflection. >> Um some interesting news I just we we learned um about this uh today um from Dr. cursor English that we have a student uh it's Kyle it's Sin Zah um she was featured in UB now magazine um as girls in STEM together we chem uh she participated
006in that program this summer uh and um she is uh an outstanding representative of Sweetome and I want to thank teachers Alicia Feeblecorn and Sarah English for advising the chemistry club and encouraging Kyle to uh go into uh this program at UB. I did put a link uh to the article at the bottom of this slide so the board can and take a look at it. But I think once you read it uh you'll be very very proud uh of all the great work we're doing with STEM and especially female students in STEM which we know um is is something that is an emerging um um field uh for for all of us but um we want we want to encourage more um female students to go into STEM um as well. So, um, great
007article on on her and want to thank our our teachers for, um, promoting her and I think we're going to get that out on social media as too. So, as our social media accounts, uh, just a reminder to our employees that meet the board night is November 18th, 5:00 p.m. here in Virgil's. Uh, we'll have a very informal um, session with uh, any employee that wishes to attend. We'll maybe set up some roundts and um have snacks, but a great way for our our employees to come and meet the board before our regularly scheduled meeting on November 18th. Also, a reminder, I'll keep reminding everybody that our capital project um is up for a vote on December 16th. Um that will be from 7:00 a.m. to 900 pm in Virgil's. Um I'm not going to
008go through the whole presentation like I did last week. It's linked to this slideshow. Um, but we're going to be updating that presentation as we start to get renderings of what some of the new spaces will would look like if our voters approve it on December 16th uh here at Virgil's. And a reminder to our audience that November 24th will be our first town hall at 6:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium and then on December 10th um Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. uh in the middle school auditorium. So, our community will have two more chances to see that. Plus, uh Mr. Mr. Feldman and I have to travel to the Willowidge and the and the middle school PTO PTAs um to do presentations for them as well. So, all of the meeting dates that we
009have out there are at this link. Um all of the town hall information on the town hall. I know um our residents got their postcards in the mail. Um mine came on Friday. Uh we are producing a video to send out um with the help of teachers and students and administrators here um that will tell the story of this capital project and why it is needed. Um and I know um uh Miss Lyall is producing a special edition of Sweet Home Source as well to get out uh the information to our public. So um we're hitting everything. Um she's also doing a lot of on social media right now as well. We're hitting every media outlet we have um to make sure that our public is very well informed on um what they're voting on
010in December 16th. Um, one thing we wanted to make the board aware of, um, which was kind of, um, interesting in our public as well is, uh, a little bit of a a not a hiccup, I will say, maybe is the right word, maybe even not, but, um, the, um, the preservation office of the of the state has uh, deemed Heritage Heights as a modern build, which means that it has um, rights under the preservation act, which is kind interesting because I think if we could, you know, personally gut it and start over, we would probably do that. Um, and uh and and so once we complete design on Heritage Heights, um it might have to go through a separate review because of its designation right now, but we will work with state ed um
011to make sure that um this is not a hiccup, but just wanted to make you aware of it that we heard about it this week. So, this is part of the seeker uh resolution that you guys are voting on tonight. Uh we've gone through the 30-day uh comment period, and one of the state agency's offices that do do respond is the state um historical preservation office. uh and they uh determined that based upon the time that the building was built that it was considered a modern design capital M capital D. So that must be some design period at some point in time. Uh so they are suggesting that we take into consideration when we add the two classrooms onto the building that they are in similar fashion to the existing building and the pod. They
012didn't say we had to. They said they would ask us to take into consideration. So, it's not an issue now. Uh it could be during the design process when we get to state ed as we start to talk to design. Uh but to Dr. Janestri's point, just the pod um situation and the pod format in and of itself makes teaching and learning difficult at best. Uh so we would argue that the design is is as as Dr. Jester says outdated and should not be emulated in schools. So uh I don't foresee it to be an issue. Uh but it is something that was responded to and something that we'll certainly have to take into consideration as we get into the design phase uh after the vote on the 16th. >> Is it just this school?
013I mean >> just what is their criteria? Is it age of building? I think is the time it was built and the and the design is different than most elementary buildings >> century front to it. >> Yes, >> correct. It was it was really it's about the design piece of it and how the pods were constructed. So, they want to preserve that if possible. >> We're not changing any of the classrooms. >> We are not. Uh but the addition would should emulate kind of the format that the building is presently in. Uh given that we're only doing two classrooms, I'm not exactly sure how that could happen. Uh but um you know, hopefully when we get to the design phase with facilities and planning at state, it it won't be an issue and we kind
014of go through it that way. But they just said that they would ask us to consider it. >> Is there an actual person that you've talked to or is this just in the form? through the well, it's a it's a we send out a survey to all state agencies and you'll see on the on the board report tonight is kind of the summary of all that stuff. Um, and this is their response, the state office response. >> We were a little surprised. Let's just >> I was a little surprised. >> I'm thinking to myself, aren't their classrooms? I don't know the square footage, but it strikes me that they more than likely are smaller than the rest of our >> Yeah. I don't know about Mr. Johns. I don't know about size. I just think
015about design more so than anything else. Like it's just more so that it would be in similar podlike format. Not necessarily the size of the classrooms, but just the way that the classrooms are arranged so not to disrupt the integrity of the design of the building as it sits now. >> I'm I'm sitting here thinking I know we have to go bigger on those classrooms. Yep. >> To meet the new >> Yep. Yep. >> Just trying to picture how they could possibly >> look at I don't not really sure. Um, it's not something that I I'm not terribly concerned by. I'm a little surprised by it. Uh, but, you know, we'll work with our architect team and the Office of Facilities Planning to do obviously what's best for the design of the building because really
016there's not a lot of space to to build on that building. We're going to go have to go back off the back of the building and there's only so much space back there because remember we also have the playground back there. So, that's something that we'll we'll hopefully work to our advantage from that standpoint, but I I don't know. I just don't see it being an issue because they didn't mandate it. They just asked us to consider it. >> It's going off the hallway next to the pre-K rooms, right? >> Well, it's going to go off back that way. It's that that's the initial thought. Um but until we get out there and take a look at it and survey and all that stuff, we're not certain as of yet. But that's the intent right
017now. Don, I would think architects today uh are aware of all this type of concern by these government agencies or these groups. So, I'm sure they're familiar with how to try to work that into >> Oh, yeah. We've Yeah, we've talked That's a good point. We've talked. So, uh, this the survey results, you know, are sent to us here in the district as well as our bond council at Hodson Russ. He was the one who initially made the call on it because I we hadn't gotten our survey back yet. Uh, and we did. I immediately got on the phone with our architect team and they basically said, "We'll work through it and and not to to worry about it too terribly, but it was something that was a bit of a surprise. We'll see. Um
018and then Dr. Wilson wanted to give the board a little bit of an update on our strategic plan and where we are with professional development. So Dr. Wilson, >> good evening. So um we have here an update on um new data that we've been able to collect in the last year. Um last year we switched to a new platform to track all of our professional learning for the district frontline. And because of that, we've been able to pull different data points that eventually um and I'll talk about in the last slide will inform our work as we um re um redesign and um not redesign but um continue our work of the strategic plan in the next three-year phase. So front line um is that system and we have a year's worth of data. So
019what I have for you is a review of goal one because the amount of data we're able to pull is so big that you'll get one this time and then we'll give you updates throughout the next couple of board meetings on goal two and then goal three. So goal one is teaching and learning and again we use frontline. um in the process of teachers or anyone in the district who's signing up for professional learning, they have to go through a process of identifying that it is CTLE um connected, which is that's the continuing teacher and leadership education um uh level that our teachers have to participate in to keep their certification. Um administrators also um and then they have to make a connection to the actual strategic plan. Where do they see the goals aligning
020to this work? So everything we do has a connection to goals one, two, and three. Sometimes multiple goals. You'll see a lot of crossover. And then they have to make a connection to the seven standards of teaching. And so we break it down that way in the system. They have to actually go through and identify these as they sign up. And what we found is just looking at last year's data just in goal one. Now remember some of these will overlap with two or three when we get to those. Uh but on average staff members across the district completed 31 hours a year. Now what does that look like? Next slide. What does that mean? That is 13,000 hours. 13,000 5,413 entries. So that's the different folks going in there. So, I might have signed
021up for several different things, right, throughout the year. topics, different topics, and we'll talk about what some of those topics are in a minute. And that cuts across 432 staff members that we could pull from out of this system. That's 19 school administrators, 305 teachers, and then 108 other staff. This could be um civil service. This could be um anyone who's beyond the teaching um category. Next slide. So what I try to do is take the the all that information and make sense of it so that I could give you an update, right? But also to take it and bring it back to our um our DEI committee who's going to be working on the strategic plan. And I put things into three big buckets. The first bucket there, supporting diverse student needs. The categories
022there include DEI, MTSS, SEAL work. All of our restorative practice work goes in there. Um, anything that's connected to our ENL students, our students with disabilities, those 135 sections cut across and support. You have 108 curriculum design sessions. That's us working on, remember the math curriculum we rolled out a couple years back. and all the curriculum design that has been going into that each year. So, this is just last year, right? The math curriculum, the literacy work we're doing in early in early elementary. Today, I had a session just today that was I I just left so energized from this session with the English teachers at the high school. Um the morning we spent with the nth and tth grade teachers and in the afternoon it was the 11th and 12th grade teachers and we
023were looking at strategies that could be schoolwide to support literacy across the school across all subjects and we use data points. That's one of these examples of curriculum design. Um quality instruction. This would be take our new teachers. Our new teachers come in in the summer and they're here for almost a week engaging in learning together. that falls into this category. Um other things that could fall into this category would be anything connected to um nextgen standards helping our teachers now that we've selected curriculum and we've done the curriculum design how best to implement that in the classroom for quality initial instruction and then 23 for program design. Now that's a smaller number but those are big overarching categories. For example, leader and me falls into this category. Those are big overarching program designs. Big
024picture, our our huge program over at Ready Academy falls into this category. And so what you find is the list is long. If you want to look at the indiv individual list, I can send you that. But I can tell you that we have a significant amount of professional learning going on across the district that now is impacting our strategic plan work. It's all connected to that. nothing is happening in our uh professional learning sessions that's not connected to our strategic plan and that's the that was one of the reasons why this was a good change for us last year to switch to this platform. Next slide. So now what what do we do with all this information? So, as I said before, we're going to be looking at 20 uh 2026 2029 strategic plan.
025And in this plan, remember as we unpacked the plan three years ago, everybody noticed where there's a lot of auditing and a lot of assessing where we are now so we can make a good plan for how do we go to the next level. So, this three years has been a lot of that. We're at the point now where a lot of implementation is happening because we are ending we're at the end of those three years. So to go we're going to go from auditing and assessing to using KPIs. You're going to start to hear that more and more. A KPI is a key performance indicator and it's spelled out there. You know it's it's a quantifiable measure that is used to evaluate how effective we are with individual things that we're doing within our
026strategic plan. So for our organization um how we're working toward how well we're working towards achieving our key business objectives we are in the business of educating students. So our objectives are going to be tied to things like improving attendance, reducing suspensions suspensions um looking at academic performance, increasing performance across 3 through eight um at the high school. When you look at graduation tracking we're going to be looking at credit accumulation. those kinds of things. Those add to those steps that you have to take towards graduation. Those tie into our our examples of um the key performance indicators. As you look at our strategic plan now, you see that those those things are listed there, but the next step will be quantifying all of that. And so as we as we as we move on
027um for the next couple of sessions, you'll get more information about how we're doing with goal two, future focus, and goal three, whole child. But again, remember there's so many connections. And that's one thing that our staff um say pretty regularly. They see the connections across the goals, too. Any questions? >> Um just two questions. So as our strategic plan is fluid, I assume this is right along with it. >> Yes, we so our our act our annual professional learning plan um es and flows are what we need. Right. So as we got to halfway of last year, we realized that some one of our big main focuses coming into this year would be to take restorative practices for example that has now taking taken on small groups and and and made some we've made
028some small steps in implementation there to now we need to really look at the entire district having a really good understanding of restorative practices. We're at that tipping point. We have to pay attention to where we are at each point of our strategic plan to know, okay, now we're at this point. That's one of the um the learnings from the first phase that we had things in there um that we thought this is these are great things to have in there, but we just weren't at a place where we were ready to um move in on them. And those go into the next phase. Um so you'll see a lot more stu student portfolios. That's one of those things that we really need to hit hard in the next phase. We want those at every
029um exiting grade level that's already in there. We need to we needed to lay some foundational things down first before we could get to that. >> And is a lot of the teacher learning through the teacher center or how is this? >> It's a good question. It's a combination. So you'll find there are um this this data included it includes everything. our superintendent conference days, anything we do in the summer, all the professional learning that the teachers individually um participate in, they have to go through an approval process. They have to go through those steps that I talked about earlier. Then they have to complete the process and get approval for completion. That's the summer work. Um we have um our sessions that we have like the one I talked about today. Um we have
030sessions in the evening. all of our committee work um every there's always something for everyone to um link on to. So on average people have done 31 hours um a person, but there are some people who have done more and some people have done less but everybody's done something because it's some of most much of it is naturally built into your role as an educator or as an employee here in Sweet Home. >> Promise last question. as you go, do you have specific checkpoints to say, "Whoa, maybe this isn't working or we need to do more." >> That's our monitoring process. So, um, the office of curriculum and instruction, we monitor very closely and we fan out across the district. So, we have Katie Barileri leading a a large chunk of it. We have, uh,
031Beth Kazakowski leading a large chunk of it, myself, and then others that are in the department. and we fan out to include all of the branches that fall under our leadership um to pull them back into the work. So instructional technology is in there um falls right now under Beth Kazakowski. That's where you see the movements around AI. You see anything that's tied to a digital platform that teachers use for instruction that's tied in there. Katie Barileri um leads up the um MTSS work and so everything that's tied in there, you know, she fans out and she pulls pieces in. I have the DEI components and so we all come together and we monitor that and that was one of the checkpoint that we um rolled out in June. Um that is from that work
032of our our committee or excuse me our department um coming together to monitor where we are. >> This is a lot. >> It is a lot. The team is very mighty. >> Thank you. >> It is a team effort though for real. >> Who's on the team? I'm sorry. Can I >> Oh, curriculum instruction. Yeah, >> we're small but mighty. So, um there's there's me. There's Beth Kazakowski who is she she does primarily a number of ele at the elementary focus but then she does some things that cuts across um UPK12 like um she uh leads uh ENL the department for the whole district. Katie Barileri um in um student services and um she works very closely with Lindsay Mercenelli. Um, and then we also have a data position that is in the works and
033that person comes in and they help us with honing in on on the data that we need to drive all of our work. So today I said I was energized with the English department and working with them and that was because we anchored in on key data points and they had some big ahas. It's like you know when if you're a teacher and people talk about that teachable moment and you and you see the light bulb go off. this means I understand the why behind why we're doing this and that's what happened today behind the data. So that person will help us drive data in that way. >> Okay. KPI stands for what again? >> Key performance indicators. A fancy way to say it's a measure that makes it a smart goal. >> Okay. I
034like that. >> But I like the fancy. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Questions. We added this one. We just wanted to say happy uh Hispanic Heritage Month. I know a lot of our teachers uh were celebrating around the classroom, not only bringing uh language to our students, but also culture. And uh we just wanted to say thank you to them for for their celebrations uh around our entire district. And um happy uh National His Hispanic Heritage Month um to all of those who celebrate and um any questions. >> We also have happy duality which was yesterday, but today is one of the five days around it. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. >> That's why I said because you stepped down there so fast. Thank you for all the work with this.
035This is a big ask and >> it's a lot. >> It's it's energizing. >> That's my word. That's that's what I'm sticking with. >> It's good. >> Any questions? >> That's what I have tonight. Thank >> Okay, that leads us to the board of education self evaluation um preview uh review, sorry. Um I know there are five standard six five standards five standards um broken down into each one. I looked through this earlier and it seems that we were all pretty much on the same page with everything. So, what I'm going to do is I'll just if it's okay with everybody, we'll go through each standard and then if you have a specific um uh pull out from the standard um any of the subsets, just let us know and we can discuss it. Is
036that okay with everybody or do we want to talk about each should I bring up each subset? >> It's okay with me, >> D. Go ahead. Yeah, I'm okay. >> Okay. So the first um standard is vision, leadership and accountability. Um I believe we were all effective on each of the substandard sub subsections. Any questions or comments on any of those? I want to just say that when we, at least me, I don't know about everybody else, that when we mark ourselves effective on something, it's it's not a oneanddone. It's not to say, yes, we feel like we're doing okay on this and we're not ever going to revisit it or try to improve on it or make any changes going forward because I think we all know that that is absolutely not the case.
037Um, leadership is ongoing. It's a process. It evolves. It changes. It's dynamic. So I think one of the things that I had said in there is that I feel it's ongoing. It's only year two in this for me. So I'm still learning kind of as I go. But I think for us this specific thing is always going to be a moving target as it should be. So if we feel effective today, we might not feel effective tomorrow, but we're going to work to get back to to feeling as though we're doing what we need to do. >> So I probably should have prefaced that this is based on a Heidi scale much like our yes teacher evaluations. So Heidi is the acronym for highly effective, effective, developing or >> Ineffective. Um so when we say
038effective, we're actually ranking oursel in the kind of the secondary category there. Um, so I do agree um with Danny and that yes, we are this isn't just a this and remember this is also based on last year's board goals and and where we met our buller goals from the 2425 school year. Um, so I just want to I want to preface those two things before we continue. doesn't show is our all of our I mean it has our individual comments but it doesn't show the individual rankings for the >> sub I didn't see that either and I know if you go through like some of mine you're going to see a couple highly effectives you're going to see a couple of developing ones in there but they still average out to effective which I'm
039assuming is probably the same for all seven of us would be my guess that would be a really long document >> I just said we're improving and I think that's for me that's a good way to look at it across those subgroups so Right. >> Okay. Any other questions on standard one? Okay. Standard two, um, board governance and policy. Um, again, I believe we were we were effective on all of our subsets on that. Um, are there any questions or comments on any of the five subsets? >> Subsets of number two. So, this is a this is a question. I don't even know if this is the right place to go ask this, but um one of the the questions the qu the questions that fed into this was the board has a procedure in
040place for reviewing established policies on a regular basis and developing new ones. And I know that a lot of this work is done through the committees, right? So, I'm only on one, two, and so I'll see like the minutes and things that kind of come out of those, but is there a way for us to be if we're not on a committee to be more integrated or informed or to have updates and things because I we've got like a hundred committees, not really a hundred, but there's a lot, right? So I know that some of us have more concentrated knowledge in the committees that we're part of but might not have it for the other ones that we're not. And so is there a way that we can develop something so that we have more
041information across the board on everything like not super deep level like no one has the time to do that but >> sure I'm I'm well like policy committee I think you have access to that agenda and and >> I don't if it's somewhere I don't know where it is. We can review that and you know I can work with Fallon on that and see but but that like policy um auditing you you pretty much it it get the information like during the presentation which is the same information that the auditing committee gets. >> Okay. >> I think policy we probably could do a better job of getting that out there to all the board members. >> I mean the a usual policy >> those are the two big >> Yeah. I was sitting there with
042with Brian and I and the and the admin team and Fallon and and actually Sherry before I don't think you've said one yet. I'm not sure. But anyway, and we go through each of the upcoming policies um that are assigned to us by county association, excuse me, every one policy committee that need to be updated to meet changes in the laws and that type of stuff. Typically at the committee, we ask questions to see if something doesn't strike as right or anything like that and we send it back to be checked on again if that's the case or we approve it to go ahead for the board meeting. Um I can't remember the last time we've actually made some changes >> and I think it's like rotational. Yeah. Like so >> we're reviewing we don't
043necessarily review the entire because the policy is fairly the book is fairly long. I mean >> it's like that. >> Yeah. I mean and so we I think the idea is over a course of a number of years we'd get through the entire policy manual but >> start over again >> but there if there is anything that is um from a time perspect like more immediate need then we would certainly review it but um u and a lot of it is mandated I will say as well but um >> I think the biggest point of it is we used to discuss it as a board here that just that came in here's your policy and then we'd spend a lot of time kicking and around the policies at a board meeting. And by doing it
044in committee, we've eliminated a lot of that extra time and taken care of most of the questions before we get here. Not to say we don't have the ability to discuss it. We've just solved most of it before we got here. Make our life a little bit easier. >> Pipe in here a little bit. Pipe in. Pipe up. Um I do think because of the process, it has a tendency to come in and we just glance at it. We don't really sometimes analyze some of it as much as we should. Just my view of that. And uh maybe for you if you want to slow things down on a certain policy that's being in the first or second phase of that presentation to the board, do it. I would just suggest do it. Slow it
045down and make us talk about it and understand it and my suggestion here >> and I believe most of the the policy updates are first read, second read. So they they do span >> three to four board meetings. >> Right. Right. Yeah. So you have to do first reads and second reads. >> Got it. Okay. And again because they come at you in I think a bulk type of mode. It sometimes scan over them and then maybe one catches your eyes about it. But there is a point I think where each board member if they'd like to learn a little more >> really has the right to say let's talk about this. >> Oh yeah. We always do. I mean we can always talk about them at any meeting if just we're trying to get
046some of the questions answered before we get here. That's all. >> Right. >> And if again I haven't seen much of that. So that's why I'm bringing >> Yeah. >> But and of course we're here. So if anything comes up in circles that you're in and you want to reach out to me, um you know, we're always here to answer those questions and we'll get you all the documents and information that you may need if there's a question, >> which again, Mike, you're very good with that. >> Yeah, I have to say most of the last years almost entirely mandated changes. Yeah. It's been very little of our own change for our needs. >> A lot of it is mandated. I agree with that. It's one of our priorities as a board member. We set
047policy, not committees. We set the policy. We we agree with those of supposed to make sure they get >> But there is a filter that that Fallon maintains that. Yeah. I mean, if if everybody had access to it, you could see the same things we're seeing before the meeting. You know, it lists it by the by what the policies are changing, why it's changing, >> that type of stuff. The old policy and the new recommendation, etc. >> Okay. Sorry. Oh, that's good because half the time I don't know what I don't know, right? So, I'm relying on all of you that have done this for a really long time to kind of point me in the right direction so that I'm not bumping into stuff. >> I do think the board does help with >>
048Okay. Any other Okay, Brian. >> Yeah. I just want one of the things in here was about uh having a unified voice as a board and I know last year you know we had some uh more periods of debate than I've seen maybe in other years. Um, and I I think in reading some of the comments I just wanted to mention, I guess my perspective is is is prior to, you know, a voter like I I think it's perfectly fine that we're not unified and we like we have to express disagreement or, you know, different points of view. >> Never want to be perceived as a board that rubber stamps. >> Yeah. So this because you know I I think it's just you know the idea of like well we we I think once we
049make a decision that's important to then stand behind it but I also think even within that decision if there are improvements to be made it's okay to bring that up you know like as an example um I think the um you know where we have the the younger kids now taking bus right you know that came up after the vote which was an improvement. >> Um, but I also could see that being perceived as >> we weren't being unified, right? And that so it's I think there's a balance is what I'm saying. And I I think you know the idea in my view is like the spirit is here that we should act as a unified board once the votes are taken. But I also think we have a responsibility >> to express our opinion
050even if it's um you know dis you know and and is in disagreement or contrary to every other board member that's the point of the discussion and you know so I I kind of view those as >> unified voices kind of after the fact you know after we've made a decision >> I I you know even in uh any of government are elected a body of people. They have votes, something passes, and after the fact, they don't necessarily get up on a soap box and say, "This is this is what the board wants to do, and I'm all for it." I don't know that that's really what people want here. I think that I I do agree with the board president speaks for the board. I don't want to speak and have the board but
051I can certainly I feel I can speak for myself on on areas that are in front of the public and have been decided on and and discussed in public and my view is always going to be given on that. I think that's part of my role as a board member. But I'll I'll take the uh the vote on the two propositions. Yeah, we voted to let the public vote on it. So, that doesn't mean I agree with the way it's structured or what's in it or or how it what's in it, but the board I I'm happy and I said this in Heritage Heights. I'm happy the board put it forth so that the public can vote on it. I can't determine if their tax situation or their situation warrants spending more money. I don't
052I think part of Amy was aiming at me with her comment there, but I I you know I I don't know that I always have to um go out and promote the board's decision. I don't think that's >> at you. I think that's we we've last year we all disagreed about something at one point. Every single one of us dissented from what the public or the um popular opinion was. And I think we need to be comfortable doing that. Like Maryannne said, we don't want to be just sitting here rubber stamping something. If you feel in your soul that something is not a good fit for our kids, like speak up and say something. What I do feel like we could probably do a little better job of is being professional and respectful when we
053do that. It's okay to disagree with one another. It's not okay to tear one another down or say things that are going to be detrimental to the fabric of this board. So, um, that's what I have to say about that. And I think once we once we vote the idea is that the board should stand behind the success of what >> you know the execution of that then even if you disagree with it >> the board has made a decision it's like then you I think as board members we should work towards >> the successful implementation of that decision you know so even if you're not necessarily in didn't vote for it it's like that's passed now we we need to work together to make sure it's successful. It it really brings the question where
054did this come from? Board members publicly support the decision of the majority and speak with a unified voice. Where did that come from? >> NISBO. The whole tool came from NISB. >> This is NISBO's board evaluation. Excuse me. >> Yeah. It's it's what they believe will be a good functioning board. But where is it rooted in? Does it come out of some kind of >> history? I I I believe it's in a sense with what Brian was talking about is that yes, we are going to have disagreements. We're going to have discussions. We have and then we vote and but then once the the board does vote one way or the other is that you know like you said with the you're glad we put the propositions out to the public to vote on it,
055right? That's where we have to stand behind the board's collective decision. So whether it's a 4 to3 vote or a um a seven nothing vote, right? That's where the unified voice comes in afterwards. Okay. I think that's I'm not mistaken on that. I think that's where it's coming from. >> Do a little more research, but I don't know. doesn't seem uh again Congress votes and there's half of them are no, half of them are yes and they go out and they don't publicly support they win. The yes votes win they don't all go out and say well this is a great thing for our >> No, I see how well that works. >> Yes, >> but that's democracy. I mean, but so I'm I'm curious where this this I think it's come from. I'm not
056picking on anything. No, I I think it's more of a um you can still have I'm not saying that you automatically have to change your opinion on it, but that yes, this was the will of the board. This is what the board's doing. Now, let us support what's moving forward. Okay. >> I have a little problem with that. >> It's okay. >> It's going to be okay. not going to be >> I'm trying to explain I might not be getting my point across. >> I know you are. I I understand. So >> well I think it's the idea that we we can disagree and then after the after something's passed. This is my perspective is then I may not have agreed with that the overall decision but now it's passed and now I need to
057be supportive of the policies and the pieces that need to be in place to move that forward. I agree >> because I I you know otherwise you're going to be an obstacle >> and that's not you know at that point you you know well the the board has spoken >> okay >> as a body. Yeah, the deliberation and the discussion should have be ahead of the vote and the vote is the final decision >> move forward with it. >> Doesn't mean again I'm going to jump up down. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Any more discussion on section two? Okay. Moving on to section three, communication and community relations. Um I believe we were effective on A, we were de all in agreement with developing on B. Um effective
058on C, D and E. Any discussions on that? Um developing was on >> B. >> This is three. >> Yes. >> The board establishes effective communication with parents, students, staff, and community members while respecting the chain of command and lines of responsibility. This goes handinhand with one of the goals that we're going to talk about tonight that we wrote specifically um to speak to this. So I think that's probably why we select developing on this across the board. >> I would agree. So we can as well everybody we'll be talking about it as Danny said when we talk about our board goals. >> I uh can I I'll make a comment. Go ahead. >> Were you done there? >> Yeah. Oh yeah, I'm done. Go ahead. Um, I put many committees with leanings towards what
059the administration would like to see. And not only I see this, but I I hear this a lot of committees in the committees kind of set in a way that an outcome is predetermined. That's also what I hear and what I've experienced and and I um the committees don't set policy. So I see a lot of times it'll take building users committee it comes up and you know it's got it's not gospel it still ends up in our labs and I think maybe the committees need to understand that they're doing some work basically research and background stuff to get to the board so that we can make a an educated decision I guess. So that's that's I'm not really picking here but I do see that a lot. We use a lot of committees to
060kind of drive certain things. Some of it's good, some of it I could argue with. So that's my only comment there. Okay. How I rate it, I probably rate it effective anyway. So, okay. Okay. Anything else on session section three? All right. >> I just made some comments in here. I'm glad we brought the forums back. I think I think that's another maybe we can reach out to people if we could just continue. We've said this gosh for many years to try and develop partnerships with our business community as well as UB which is right in our backyard which seems like such a great resource. >> That one's been great. I mean we're and that's just growing. Um there wasn't much I don't think four years ago with UB, but we've since done everything from
061residency programs to research uh partnerships uh with them and that's going to continue um and open up um many doorways for us. So it's been very fruitful UB partnership. I I would definitely like to get I think the business partnerships um Ready Academy has taken advantage of those because of internships, but we could do more and you know we even through athletics we'd like to be more more partners um um to support our athletic program too. So >> I you know let me try to back up a little bit here. I I think we communicate and work well with Mike and administration. I don't think any of us have a problem with that. >> I hear you. I love the idea of the business connection. Am I talking into the >> Go ahead. >> Listen,
062you can pull yours forward, too. >> Uh, that's interesting. I I didn't would not think of the Ready Academy would be a connection, but that's beautiful. That's that's great. I think that's wonderful. Years ago, we used to reach out to the senior center, >> which by the way, they have 10,000 members. It's pretty interesting organization. And again connecting to the seniors is something I think we need can do a little better job with. Um I don't know how to arrange that but I love the idea of reaching out to the sectors of the community. So I you know I know we do it somewhat we can do it better I guess is what I'm saying. Okay. Thank you. >> Um okay standard four is fiscal resources staff recruitment and environment. Um I believe we were
063all in agreement with effective on AB C D and E. Any questions or discussions on section 4 fiscal um fiscal responsibility resources and staff recruitment? >> So I just want to say that Mr. Feldman does an outstanding job of explaining things in a way that is digestible and easy to understand for a person like me because math makes me sweat every single time. So that was the thing that for board service I was most nervous about coming into this. I was having a panic attack like I'm not going to understand what this means and how these numbers all work together and what all of these different components are that we have to meet legally speaking. and Don, you've made it so easy and I'm so grateful for that. So, >> thank you. >> Um, thank
064you. >> Thank you. >> I put in here somewhere, um, I'd love to review maybe at one of our meetings how we actually go about hiring staff. Like I know you've got connections probably all over New York State just to get an idea of what the process is because I'm really not as familiar probably as I should be with what the process entails and how we actually go actively recruiting. Wow, we would love that. >> There's a PowerPoint deck somewhere that you gave me when I first started because we talked about that that outlines exactly what they do. >> I'm I'm So, we we've done a lot of recruiting around the state. Um we've tried to open um uh you know, we there's regular teacher recruitment days that we we go to, but um in
065meeting with uh Dr. Shahibi, we decided to open that up and go to any recruiting event that's in New York. So, we've been down to New York City, uh, Bingington, Syracuse, Rochester, um, and and try and find teachers. Um, the connections we've made with the UN local universities we're pretty proud of as well. So, UB in particular, um, has has really, um, opened a lot of avenues for us. Um, but Buff State, Duville, Damon, I mean, Kenishious, all um, good partnerships with them. I've signed a lot of agreements um in September with those groups. Um and then our process is rigorous. Um no no question about it. It involves a lot of people, a lot of stakeholder groups. Um so everybody has a voice in in hiring. So um it's uh very >> human resources
066is a very very busy place as we know to say the least. So miss >> maybe just a presentation on what the process looks like for a candidate and you know because we're not in on all those meetings and presentations they have and I'm I'm really not sure what kind of presentations they do or what that even looks like. >> Be happy to. >> Mrs. Jason, it's also just on the service side too. You know, it used to be that you'd put an ad in the paper and you'd get a million. It just doesn't work that way anymore, right? So, uh, we've had a lot of success with we've done two different job fairs now in house where we've gotten some, uh, really strong service candidates, bus drivers, things along those lines. So, we just
067we have to be creative. We have to be creative about how we structure the job and, you know, more importantly on well, even on the teacher side as well, but on the service side, we have to be competitive. Uh and um you know, one that's one of the things that we'll likely talk about as we get into the contract negotiations for the service employee contract coming up. But uh it's a challenge. It's a challenge to fill those those service level positions and it it is true and but on I would say on the faculty side it we've been very fortunate. Um I think we're we're getting good candidates. we're getting um good numbers except for those very difficult um certification areas to like technology. There just are people going into that now and so those
068are hard to fill. But um we've had luck in in foreign language and special ed. We've had luck in pretty much in music, every other um certification area. But to Mr. Feldman's point, the other side of the house is certainly uh uh presents with its challenges. >> But I just want to be aware of those. so I can better understand the challenges that you're facing and >> and as we go into contract negotiations, I think that's important for all of us to >> 100%. Be happy to >> Okay, everybody good with standard four? Okay, moving on to standard five, ethical leadership. Um, so we think we're effective in A, B, C, D, and E. Any questions or comments about section five? Standard five, sorry. Ethical leadership. >> Did you say mostly unless we're watching a
069Bills game? >> Who said that? E board members act as conscientious role models and exhibit professionalism unless we're watching a Bills game. Sir one word can't I know >> we all lose a little bit of our >> I don't remember which one this fell under because I'm going through it fast but I would just like to call out um especially Scott and Durk for all the advocacy you do um on our behalf because I know Sweet Home benefits from that. So and I know that's very time consuming. So, thank you both for the time you put in to advocate for all our kids. >> Thank you for that. But I think I'm in the shadow of Scott >> like the mayor. >> I think everybody knows Scott. I can't go anywhere in in the same
070room with Scott because everybody's like, "Oh, Mr. Johnson." Like, I don't exist. It's the Scott show. Thanks. >> Great. It is true. You might be the most popular board member. I think we enjoyed doing it. But small part I do I because in the end I think we're trying to connect what goes on in the district with laws legislation still working on the thing and the county I haven't heard anything back yet. So >> anyways but if I'm doing that I think that's it's that's positive stuff. So thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Um that is all five um standards. Uh are any other additional comments or questions. Okay. Wrap that up. So moving on too much. >> Next would be our items or calendar of interests. Um I know um D Scott uh Don
071and Mike you'll be heading to the NISSBA convention in New York City this going >> Oh Dr. Wilson is going too. Okay. I hope you guys enjoy your time. Um uh heckle Mr. Feldman as much as you want. Um we have the Willow Ridge uh harvest dance. We have Maple Mir's trunk or treat. Middle school fall activity night. um some picture retakes um through the rest of the month and then leading into November, we have our first um staff development day on November 4th. Um so there will be no school for prek to 12. Um a couple of PTA meetings, more retakes. Um we start our um our junior high all state um and then um moves into our meet the board night. And just a reminder that we only have one board meeting in
072November due to the way that the calendar fell with Thanksgiving and Veterans Day because there is no school also on November 11th. Um and the staff development day on November 4th. There just aren't very many Tuesdays um in November um to hold meetings. So we will only have the one meeting. It will be a a combined study and voting session um on November 18th. Right. Um okay. Uh leads us to our first open session. Um per per board policy 1510. This open session is for topics related to tonight's agenda. Is anyone interested in speaking? Seeing none, I will move on to new business. Um, we do need to pull out uh letter G, letter >> I, and letter J to be voted on separately. So, if I could have a motion on consent agenda A
073through F and H. Um so we could vote on them. >> Make a motion for consent agenda and with >> A through F H >> an H. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay. So that would be special education and preschool placements. Our district audit report which we had the re uh the presentation last week. Our monthly financials, our overnight field trip request for the state music fair. um our capital outlay project construction bids, our resolution for the board of ed to join the consortium, um and then our extracurricular activity accounts for varsity cross country. Okay, so letter G is our board of education goals. Do I need a motion to open them or we just >> Thank you. We can just start discussion. >> Um do we have any discussion on
074our board of education goals? I know they were um >> we did receive some edits this week um >> in the document. So I >> Yeah. Okay. Believe Mr. Ravenol you >> you want me to email you the link? I I I what I thought I did and I thought I put it in >> that a possible rewrite my mind just kind of shrinking them so that we have a specific goal or a measurable goal with spirit of what we're trying to accomplish. Um >> do you want mine? So this is hang on let me >> So there were some suggestions that were put on there were they incorporated in to the final draft here. >> So I know >> how do you want me to do this? I'll do go one is and I'll
075just go right I suggested and then >> again have a little discussion there. >> I'll I'll get my microphone in front of me. >> Yep. >> For for Maryanne Jason. Right. >> Okay. The board of education will continue to lead in the promotion, advocacy, and implementation of the sweet home strategic plan. Period. The board will collaborate with district office and building administration to ensure the key benchmarks in academic, social, emotional development are met. Period. Regular updates will be requested at board of education meetings to monitor the progress and the access of the outcomes. Again, that's my way of simplifying what I think they're trying to do in in goal number one. You want to go to goal number two? >> Yeah. Is everybody in agreement with goal number one? >> Sounds. >> Okay. Um, so
076goal number two. >> You don't have to be polite. You can >> trust me. >> No, you're doing fine, D. >> Got a little >> If you'd like, I I'll read it. >> Okay. The board of education will lead efforts to educate the community regarding the next major capital project by providing accurate, transparent, and comprehensive information about the two propositions to be presented to the voters. Period. The board will collaborate with all stakeholder groups. Period. This communication plan will ensure consistent dissemination of information to all district residents in advance of the public vote scheduled for December 16th. Mr. Janestra, are you okay with that? >> I'm I'm good with that. I um that is exactly I think the message we're trying to get along. The only thing that's missing is then we did combine the
077the financial plan of the district, the overall budget into that goal. So, I don't know if we want to drop that piece, but that's up to the board. I you know, >> need some help. >> Or is that a separate goal? I I don't >> Can I just ask where where Mr. Revel are you reading these from? because I don't know where these are. >> Education goals 20 here. I'll share it with you. >> Does it say? >> Yeah, it's um >> it does say additionally down there, Mike. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's not on the board. >> There's two rewrites. There's the one that I put in there and then there's board of education go under >> that's not what he's reading. >> The stuff he's reading was >> Oh, just on the Google
078Drive that was shared with the board. >> I went into the Google doc and I shared I shared it with you and Toya. >> Yeah, >> does it say draft >> is what they were? >> It should back and forth, right? It should say draft. >> No. Yeah, it says draft at the end. Look under the edit section. >> It it does say scroll down and see possible rewrite. Got it. Okay. >> Additionally, the board of education will develop and adopt a fiscally responsible 2627 budget align with the district strategic plan and long-term priorities. The board will direct district administration to continue advocacy efforts to for adequate state and federal funding to support program development, maintain ade uh educational >> quality and address evolving student needs. >> Oh, I got >> little word smithing there.
079But yeah, that's >> that was a combination of two and three from last year. I talked too much. >> Sorry, >> I was it's out of order. So, my apologies. I I got it now. >> Okay. So, uh, okay. So, the the in green paragraph is first and then the additionally is second. And that all good with that, guys. Okay. >> All right. Goal number three. What did I write? Did I write anything? >> No. I think you left it as is. >> No, it's down down below. I'm sorry. >> Possible rewrite. The board of education remains committed to advancing student achievement across the district, ensuring that all students benefit. >> That's number four. >> That's four. Oh, well then I left number three. >> Number three was strengthen stakeholder engagement by fostering deeper connections
080with school buildings, educators, and the broader community. Period. The board will promote frequent transparent communication to clearly convey district priorities and disc decisions uh while also creating regular opportunities for feedback to support collaborative and informed governance. >> I'm all good with that. >> All good with number three. >> I would never challenge Danielle. >> What do you mean? >> Every week, man. >> All right. Okay. Derek. And number four, I know you had a >> number four. I had a possible rewrite. The board of education remains committed to advancing student achievement across the district, ensuring that all students benefit from the full range of programs and support that Swedom offers. The board of education is committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment that ensures every student has access to equal opportunities for success
081and growth. This work will help continue to unify the district and support our mission of every student, one community ready for the future. That was Mike's contribution that last line. So I think it's very well done. So okay, >> saying anything >> um just what was taken. I just want to just clarify what was what our original one did talk about. The DEI committee um working in partnerships with D district leadership to develop and implement initiatives that promote belonging uh respect and opportunities for all students such as the leader in me. Um, so just kind of that was what was removed. Is that correct? >> I can add a sentence. I mean, I'm just I didn't I'm trying to simplify it down. >> Well, the rationale stays the same, right? Because we have goal rationale.
082Yes. For each one. So the R that's >> the rational has not changed. >> Right. So I just >> there there's potential rewarding then there's like another paragraph that's the different then there's potent possible rewrite I just want to make sure I'm seeing >> so Durk is the green text >> mine doesn't all the highlights went away yeah all the highlights went away >> the first potential rewrite was me >> the potential rewrite >> had the last meeting and it was all in our discussion not so these are just >> and then the second they're like ideas yeah Yes. So any discussion on goal four um to basically there there are three variations of this. There's the original goal that was written. There is the possible rewarding um which is the second paragraph. It looks
083like it's more in italics. That was what was discussed in September. and then another the possible rewrite that was offered by Mr. Ribol. >> So the the rewrite by by Durk does not include diversity, equity, inclusion, right? That's why that that >> Yes, that line had >> so I just think that that's you know a difference that at least you know people may have different feelings on. I'm I'm comfortable with the rewrite, but um I don't know if again I was trying to take what I think the the other paragraphs were saying and just what are we trying to accomplish, right? >> The the work of the DEI committee is doing I think fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment, creating equal opportunities for all the students. So again, I'm trying to take what I
084think trying to accomplish and just putting in a goal. That was my thinking. We want to have some language that says we want to support what the DEI committee is doing. I mean, that's >> that's the rationale. >> That's in the rationale. >> Yeah. That's the vehicle that gets us to that inclusivity and equal opportunity for students. >> I'm open to anything here. Are you guys >> I like the rewrite >> the >> because it's the spirit of what DEI is. >> Yeah. Everything is I >> that really entails >> the last one the possible. Yeah. It is the spirit of it. >> It just it doesn't say >> directly DEI in it, but that's in the rale. >> Sometimes when people in this day and age, sometimes when people see the DEI, you know,
085>> it it >> Yeah. different views of what it is. >> Exactly. So I think this tells us exactly what DEI does without saying DEI, but it's fostering. >> I'm agreeing with >> God, you got anything? Come on. No. Okay, >> you had enough with the >> Okay. usually waits till everybody's done it and then he >> Okay, so we have um >> the only question on that I just have is like do we mention the strategic plan anywhere else like because we're taking it out here. I just know the first one that the first one >> I know that was important that we continue to >> because it was a three-year plan and we're at the end of the three-year >> Yep. promotion, advocacy, and implementation of the Sweet Home Strategic Plan. >> Okay.
086Okay. As long as it's >> Okay. So, is everybody in agreement we with the rewrite to goal number one? um the rewrite to goal number two, goal number three was unchanged, and then the rewrite to goal number four. Are we all in agreement with those? >> I am. >> Okay. So, can I have a motion and a second to accept the board of education goals for 2526 in their rewritten forms. Is that correct, Scott? >> So, I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay. And I want to thank uh Danny and Durk for the time and effort that they did put into putting these rewrites in and and editing. >> Wasn't a Bills game out this week. >> So, you weren't busy. You had nothing else to yell at >>
087screaming at the TV. >> Nonprofessional things. >> Okay. >> All right. So, that leads us to uh letter I. Um resolution issuing the seeker negative declaration for proposed district-wide capital improvement projects um of in 2025. Um is there any discussion on that? Dr. Mr. Mr. Felman, do you have anything? I know >> all this says is that there's not any significant environmental impact based upon the scope of the project. >> Okay. May I have a motion and a second for the agenda agenda item? I >> So move second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. And then finally J. a resolution as a specialing as a special meeting and vote uh for Sweet Home Central School District, Erie County, New York, October 21st, 2025. I believe this just sets up our meeting on our
088vote on >> Yeah, this just says that we went through the seeker process, which is what you just voted on. uh that we've established a vote date of Tuesday, December 16th uh at 7:00 a.m. and then it authorizes us to place um the four required legal notices prior to the vote in our two districtwide newspapers. >> Okay. May I have a motion and a second for agenda item J? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> just a question about the December 16th voting date because there were some feedback that I got from the community that they didn't understand why we were doing it in September or December and who comes out to vote for anything in December and I said, "Well, literally everybody that has a capital improvement project."
089Um, and then I made sure that was true and I just want to make sure that that is what the case is like. >> No, you don't have to do it then. Um we we picked December uh based on the timing to try and get this through to state ed um was the most important thing. Um so it hits when our debt falls off. Um and so there are financial reasons for it. Um and uh tying it to a budget vote as well can be a lot on the agenda for one night. So um this we felt uh we recommended a December vote because it deserved its own own night uh because it is a huge huge project. So >> in addition ties down to scheduling all the way down the line when you're first
090putting bids out. >> Yes. >> The sooner we get started the sooner we can >> the cheaper it is >> starting the summer et will be priced differently next year. >> Okay. Umformational items. Would you like to start? Sir, second open session. >> I have a second open session >> afterformational items. >> Oh, okay. >> Sorry. Thank you. >> No, it's okay. >> It's been a while. >> All right. Um, uh, September was a great start to the 2526 school year. Students were getting settled down, making changes to their class schedules, and getting used to a new school year without using their personal electronic devices. There were some students who faced consequences about using their phones in school which I feel were reasonable. He as well had fun events being held like the homecoming game,
091dance, powderpuff games, spirit week, pep rally, and the student government speeches and elections. Seniors are currently working on their college applications seeking recommendations and filling other important filling out other important points of their applications. Someone as well who are taking dual enrollment and new step courses are registering which closes tomorrow. Um, student government had its first meeting where we went over what will occur during the school year, what's expected to be done, and how we can accomplish things we want changed. At our most recent meeting, we selected members for our committees which were voted on which were voted on to be combined to ensure each committee received adequate support and to make them as strong as they can be. We also discussed two proposals we have for senior parking spots and games provided for study
092halls created by me and summer Mac. Um for October we also plan out our spirit week and our costume contest which will happen on Halloween. Our student government association will as well share some of our goals for the school year which include but are not limited to senior parking spots, games provided in study halls, a physical or digital suggestion box to hear back from student voice, reopening the courtyard, more student versus teacher games, academic student of the month or week, and adding vending machines and game tables back to the senior lounge. >> Thank you. Maryanne. >> Um, just a couple things. Um, I attended the Buffalo Coral Arts um, music here at the um, beautiful auditorium. I heard so many comments, people saying what a gorgeous auditorium who had not been there before. Uh, Mr.
093Day, who used to be our superintendent and Mr. Franzac, who used to be our music teacher, both singing Buffalo Coral Arts. So, it was a nice homecoming for them. Um, let's see. I did uh a walkound with Maple Mir because they've started their walkarounds through the neighborhood. So I went with a group of teachers for that. Um PTA meeting. Uh big thing there was the presentation by Mr. Feldman and Dr. Janestri. I felt there were really good questions that came up. I mean people were listening. >> It just I think it's a great way to go and >> to be transparent. I know in our in lots of our evaluations it's like you got to be transparent. Got to be transparent. I think this is a great way to be transparent and um they have
094trunk or treat as I know most of the schools do coming up and I think that's about it. >> Mr. Johnson. Okay. Handful of different things went to the I don't remember the time frame anymore. The ELLL graduation was about 60 kids who managed their finished the nicest slot process. Um successive days, the audit committee, the chef meeting, the alumni board. Um Jerk and I attended the ECASP resolutions dinner which was very interesting at a DEI building meeting building use committee and Danielle and I and and Dr. Janestry um visited the middle school for a few hours. We spent quite a bit of time talking to to the counselors and the psychologists about things plus we got a chance to go in and out of a bunch of classrooms. Um I know you kept getting
095interrupted. >> You were able to spend more time than I was. >> Yeah, we did. Yeah. >> But it it was it was a good visit. I enjoyed that. and mostly the meeting we talked about last week. I've got three different sets of papers I was writing notes on as we went along. I forwarded you the the results of that from um from NSBA was the easy part just to to show you where it was. The vast majority of them pretty much came down the same way we had voted on the items except for two of them and I'm trying to remember the maybe it was even just one. the the one that was not recommended. The first one about um Nope, that's not it. Sorry, got to get to the right place here. Too
096many different notes. It was the final one was about mandated uh recess. Um I was able to speak but uh only for a short time because part of the rules for shortening the meeting were less time for speaking. Um, and despite my speak my speech and a few others, it did actually pass. And I can actually tell you the numbers. If anybody cares about any specific numbers, I have them all what the votes were as we went along on some of them. But, uh, it passed by more than I expected. To tell you the truth, it's 170 voted yes and 63 voted no. Um, all the other ones that were not recommended generally went down by significant numbers like 229 to 28, stuff like that. Um the meeting itself I I dropped you the message
097the text they finish at 9:45 as you go through it. They start off at the beginning just a general business meeting setting it up that took 15 minutes and then the elections took another 10 minutes that they have to do and then we went through the bylaws which took about 30 minutes to go through all of them. Then we try to put forward a a resolution like or a meeting like ours with the agenda consent agenda items and they tried the first seven resol resolutions and six of them were removed from the consent agenda. So that that didn't really help much other than we didn't get to discuss the one resolution. Um and then from there the actual resolutions for adjust to the proposed ones that have been accepted went for two and a half
098hours and then another two hours discussing the ones that were not recommended. Um I have a lot more notes than that. I'm not going to go through them all. Um I'm not even going to type them all up, but if anybody's got any questions, feel free. >> What about that one where we get reimbursed or paid as board members? >> That went down in flames, too. The guy the guy who brought it up even suggested that it was kind of a flyer that he wasn't sure he wanted to see it pass either which I thought was breaks this year. Last year was payment this year was >> tax breaks. Yeah. Okay. >> So next next year Scott will be on the resolution committee again. So >> some of this hopefully will be crafted a little
099better for us mere mortals. So okay. Thank you. Durk, anyformational items? Well, >> again, I did participate in that uh meeting. Um, it was interesting. It's interesting always to hear from other districts and what they think about things in general. Um, I did have the Heritage Heights PTA. It seems like a long time ago. Most it was frontloaded with the uh, please excuse this dog and pony show projects. And I did again uh say they was happy with the board's recommendation to put both proposals forward so that the public can vote on that. Uh they did uh we did kind of adjourn to our the library and had discussions about fundraising primarily. There are various events and I think they uh the one event is still their main uh fundraising activity. Is that the student
100race thing now I forget? on run >> color run >> and then of course I got to see uh last Thursday was it um Dr. Tims very interesting conversation. I will ask failing to copy and send you the presentation. Most of his presentation is is centers around why some of the funding from the state is not necessarily equitable or fair. I did talk about two areas where uh I know we're going to talk about this in New York City, but the electric bus issue and some school districts are voting it down. So now what does the state do? uh the possibility of not having the power from Niger Mohawk or the grid national grid to support a lot of the electrical bus uh charging stations. So it was quite interesting that he was really did
101although here's how he phrase it. I'll I'll I'll say it like this. Although he supports the initiative, he doesn't think that it can be done within the time frame whether they extend it a couple years or in his mind maybe eight years. Eight years to completed would be more like it. Uh so there a lot of opinions on that across the state on whether it's viable or happen altogether. And they also talked about the uh possible lack of funding for some of the health insurance coming from the federal government because of the um refusal to on the DEI situation. In the end, who pays for that? Again, the risk is that the state doesn't have the money. So, it ends up getting passed on if in fact there is no resolution to that. So, it
102was it's kind of an eyeopening thing. It's good to hear from someone that does this for a living talk about the various areas of the state budget and uh there is some concern overall about what that budget will look like this year because again some of this stuff. So again I'll I'll if you don't mind I'll copy and give this hand this out or have it emailed to you. Okay, >> if I might I looked up the vote on the one about the changing the tax exemptions. It's 14 in favor, 224 against. >> Um, anything else, Dirk? >> No, I'm sorry. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Danny. Excuse me. >> I got to virtually attend two PTA meetings this month. I subbed in for Scott because he had an event. Um, so I
103attended high school and Glendale. Very different vibe in those two PTAs. Um, got to see the dog and pony show and there's nothing wrong with calling it that because dogs and ponies are fantastic. So, I like that title. Um, the presentations were fantastic. I feel like Maryannne was right. There's a lot of good questions that were asked and I think the presentations put a different lens on the projects than we have heard here in these presentations because they were very targeted towards the buildings that they were being delivered in. So, parents got a chance to ask questions about specifically their building and what was going to be happening. And it made it, I feel like, a little bit more tangible and real to people what the changes were that are being proposed. So, they got
104to actually kind of see what, you know, was going to happen. Um, didn't get to do the Glendale trunk or treat. We had illness last weekend, but I am going to try to do a double header on Friday and do Willow Ridge and Maple Mirror Trunk or Treat and it's going to be fantastic. So, I would encourage everyone to go out and check one of them out because they are just the most fun and the buildings and the PTAs do just magic uh with events like that. >> Do you know what they do if it rains? cuz I'm hearing we're supposed to have rain all week. >> I don't know. I don't know. >> They did cancel Glendale did cancel event earlier in the year that was outdoor because so I hope not. And hopefully
105they if they they reschedule >> heritage went into the gym. >> Yeah, >> they just went into the gym. >> Yes. >> Let us know. Oh, and we did the middle school walkthrough. So, I spent the majority of my teaching career in middle school, and it was just so much fun to get to go back and kind of see what was happening there. Um, I I miss it, but not enough to not enough. So, >> first of all, I want to know who's the dog and who's the pony. >> I'll let you decide that one. Um >> Ryan, >> so I attended the middle school PTSA. Um >> they did, by the way, do a good job. >> The dog and the very communive >> like Lauron Hardy. >> Very nice. >> They're fun. It's
106fun. >> Who's on first? Well, I will say the middle school the the uh PTESA is is promoting it and the the president has mentioned that you know to membership and and trying to garner even parents to come in and and because they it's a good opportunity to learn more and >> um their their thing one of the things is they are having activity night and they are looking for volunteers on oc for October 24th. So, if anybody's out there listening, if you'd like to volunteer for middle school activity night, um I also attended the audit committee, which we talked about. I attended a cross country meet last week at um here in Sweet Home. It was the last one uh here. But what was nice is not only was there cross country, there was
107um field hockey practice, there was football practice. So, it was a beautiful night. It was the night of our board meeting actually. And um but it's just nice to see all the kids, you know, out there, different sports and you know, the facilities being used and we could enjoy the weather and the kids could enjoy the weather. Um I was I know I'm not at Willow Ridge, but I was told by the fun committee chair who lives in my house to make sure the board last week I said it was 18,000 and I was told it was 20,000 that was raised. So that was that was a >> because apparently they were at like $19,975 and somebody donated 25 to get them to get them to 20,000. No, it wasn't me. as far as you
108know, >> I would have had to if we hadn't gotten there, but um you know, it was but that I I mean it it is amazing that that program um you know they outsource most of that to an an to a company to handle a lot of that and I know um I think one of the other great schools is doing one similar but it's just a great way you know they've had a lot of success with it. >> Okay. So, and they're trying to put in a sport court um that that's was for so it really and I know they're looking for that other avenues of funding, but I know that it can really um you know it's impactful. It could make a a meaningful um you know impact in the in in the
109school and uh for the kids. >> That's it. >> Um okay. So, I did also attended the dog and pony show at Glendale. Um, I was actually very nice meeting, very wellrun. They had their microphones ready. They they miked up uh both Don and Mike. Uh, so um people on uh who are on the Zoom call could good could good good could good could good could good could good could listen. Um and I also Mike and I attended um the Erie WBO's board of educ or board of education meeting in October. Um, one of our seniors, Brinley Greco, is the student exeicio um, member of the board of ed um, at Eriebosis through the Kenton Center. Um, she gave a report to their board of ed on updates from the Kenton Center. So, um, Mike
110and I were able to be in attendance for that. Um, we got um >> harassed. >> I would say harassed. >> Harassed by um >> a board member >> representative board member >> for our haircuts. It wasn't funny at all. >> Yes. So u Miss Greco is in the cosmetology program and um it was mentioned that she could not practice very much on the president of the board or the superintendent for men's haircuts. No, I was not. So, uh, that is what I I had. Um, >> can I just ask one question because I wasn't able to attend, but the craft fair, how did that go? >> Super crafty. Uh, no, it went well. We had 121 crafters, which is >> excellent, >> very large for us. Um, um, uh, we had a huge swimming
111meet here too that day. So that helped with traffic and things along those lines, but all in all very successful. >> Good. Thank you. >> Does Michael Marorrow still participate? >> Uh Mike Marorrow comes in for a cup of coffee and then very politely excuses himself before we start, >> but it's always good to see him. >> Yeah. Okay. I'm just curious. Thank you. >> Okay. Um All right. That leads us to open session number two. Um would anyone like to address the board? Okay. Uh, moving on. May I have a motion and a second on personal items one and two, teaching and administrative and >> service. Right. Yep. >> Make a motion to accept the personnel items. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Um, that is the end of the
112meeting. So, may I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second.