001okay all right can I make a motion to come out of executive session at 6:36 Sarah second Fran all in favor oppos 70 thank you we're going to all the order the Board of Ed regular meeting for Monday November 13th at 6:36 and we're going to begin with the pledge pleaseed States America the for it stands one nation under God indivisible andice there some housekeeping please take note of the emergency exits on side behind you there's no smoking anywhere on school property if you're planning to address the board please sign in on the sheet provided on the table and this meeting is being live streamed on the district YouTube page so uh just a quick agenda change that you all would like is uh we have some Club Charter presentations tonight so we are going
002to do the student presentation from the high school first and then we're going to move up to Club Charter present to write after that instead of making you wait until the end of the meeting okay so we'll start with the student presentations great thank you president Bon thank you Board of Education thank you for having us here tonight also want to recognize the rppa the uh National social studies Honor Society thank you Miss Rose uh for being here and thank you all um I would like to introduce Mr Ortiz and we have the Puerto Rican Hispanic youth leadership Institute here tonight this is our second uh second year that we've had this this uh group that has been taking part and uh we have a group of students that are here tonight to introduce themselves
003in this program so thank you Mr Ortiz and uh high school students you make your way up here thank you give them a round of applause please h five in-person meetings at three different college campuses this year with an opportunity to be selected for a three-day mock assembly in Albany in April our students have prepared a slide presentation for you and I am proud and excited to be their chaperon this year thank you first we [Music] have thank you okay so pry is the Angelo the Toro Puerto Rican youth leadership program and it basically brings all school districts from Hudson B rally and from some City Schools together to discuss and delegate about legislative bills and mostly how bills become laws and we're now celebrating over 30 years as this empowerment leadership program um and
004we also learn about like getting more involved as the Hispanic community in uh legislation and civil engagement for PR we sorry we develop different skills these skills consist of public speaking and debating skills leadership skills learning how to advocate in order to later impact your communities opportunities to explore New York state laws and parliamentary procedures and also learning to network with positive role models such as other Latino students elected officials Educators and Business Leaders from my personal experience at par we had our first training session and it was a good opportunity to get together with people from similar cultures and see different perspectives on the dignity not detention act as well as working we also participated in Zumba took a tour of manhattanville college and learned how a bill becomes a law my personal experience
005at pry has given me the ability to not only Branch out more and meet new people within my culture and community but also really step out of my comfort zone and become more confident in my public speaking skills and another important thing I learned was that my voice is impactful and matters as a young Latina woman for my first experience at pright it at first I was quite nervous to be honest but then after meeting people of Hispanic heritage just like me I realized that we were all the same and I got to make a friend or two even and it kind of changed my like personal Viewpoint of like how we are like presented in the Hispanic community and it broaden my um aspects of um who we are um so my first experience
006at PRI was honestly very amazing I'm excited to go back tomorrow and I've already made great friends with the people who I've been working with who I'm excited to see again and it was definitely a great opportunity to meet people who speak Spanish as well and be able to utilize me speaking Spanish with them and um I'm very interested in law this is just really good to be able to work on public speaking skills and be able to debate and especially like getting out of my shell because I'm very quiet so really exciting this is overall a great opportunity for those who are Hispanic sorry um when first going to mville college I was not like I didn't know what to expect I thought it was just like we were all going to just sit
007down and then just talk about these bills that were going to be eventually laws maybe but it was actually really different like we did Zumba which was very different um I wasn't expecting to do that like at all and we got to tour manhattanville college so we weren't only like talking about like bills um they made it much more like interactive and a lot more fun to do y thank you I think that's it right all right so my experience um prob for me was a really good opportunity to grow as a person and develop not only my communication skills but also leadership skills um again I was able to meet a large variety of people with different perspectives and who I wouldn't ordinarily be able to have conversation with it was also very comforting
008to be in a place where people who look like me and came from a similar background could talk um I believe this and will continue to be a great experience thank you um I really enjoyed being able to get to know and bond with kids who had similar backgrounds and similar features like me and it was nice to you know really connect with them on a different level and I think that it that experience alone has really helped me open up and get out of my shell in ways I could have never imagined and I'm very very grateful for this opportunity in this program okay um so our overall experience um we were able to tour manhattanville College um beautiful campus and it was very nice to to have an opportunity to go see that
009as um Juniors and seniors um we met with kids with similar backgrounds and experiences and we were a we were able to feel what it felt like to be in a room with kids that we shared these customs with um in following trainings we will be visiting Vasser college and the State University of New York at nals it was and is a great opportunity to experience things outside of the classroom in our community here at Valley Central [Applause] thanks very much we always look for new opportunities to give our students and an experience like this uh could change the direction of their life so we're so thrilled that they are getting a lot out of it and we're always looking for more and more opportunities to provide for our students so thank you very much
010I'll just use an example of two that we have on the agenda tonight one was presented last month one was presented two months ago so just understand that might be time lapse and sure absolutely okay uh I'm here with Eric to support the ski and snowboard Club uh we have he was my student last year and we've been working and talking about this for a little while now so Eric can you introduce yourself so I'm Eric lman I'm currently a freshman at Valley Central High School and I've been skiing since I could really walk and it's really one of my big passions I have a two-year-old at home and she'll be skiing this year so she can walk already but uh right behind you Eric uh my name is Will Gunther I work at the
011middle school I'm an eighth grade science teacher uh for a few Winters before my career here I also worked at Hunter Mountain teaching abilities uh skiers of all abilities and ages uh as young as three and I had a first-time skier once who was 72 uh decided they wanted to get out on the mountain um so while I'm not planning on providing personal instruction to students they would uh get a professional at the mountain I can help with a lot of the first-time mistakes and make sure they're clothed properly and that's a big part of enjoying the skiing experience so the sport of skiing is for enjoyment and fun it promotes healthy outdoor during winter months which most people in winter months really don't get outside they usually stay inside which really sucks because they
012don't get experience the outside so skiing is is really social sport because when you're on the lift you can make experiences you wouldn't get to have inside the classroom skiing and Snowboard connect students to our natural outdoor environment so I'm hoping to help students change their relationship with winter we all felt that cold this morning and said no thanks I'm going back inside but uh with you know the right mindset and knowing how to dress yourself properly you can really start to enjoy more of those winter months and not be so stuck inside um skiing is also a very social sport uh we were just talking before about how we uh get to know each other so well on the ski lift when you're sitting stuck there for five 10 minutes you really get a
013chance to talk to the person next to you and uh it serves as a little social mixer especially when you're in a big group so our plan right now is to uh include middle school and high school students on weekdays leaving from uh the Middle School complex at the end of the middle school day uh ski Holiday Mountain is under new ownership and they're really trying to support uh youth right now so I've been in contact with them about some of their programs and opportunities another nearby Mountain could be potentially Mountain Creek uh for the weekends we might do uh some day trips to belir or spend a full day at Mountain Creek uh to try and just get a full day there and this also would then allow younger students to participate in younger
014families uh so we can really work on that uh Community aspect of the sport uh our plan to help manage cost right now is to take school buses because all these mountains are relatively close by you know about within an hour uh and if you have access to the slideshow this is just coming out from Holiday Mountain it's very very affordable they have a lift package which includes six nights for middle school students and high school students for $210 uh for six weeks so that's only $35 a trip which is pretty good and they also offer a package of lessons for beginners which we would ask them to take any closing words Eric okay so that's uh it from the ski [Applause] club uh well we do but we've had a good uh uh support
015so far just from bumping into people in the hallways I've gotten some email there seems to be a good amount of interest uh from teachers as well as parents in helping with The Chaperone aspect thank you thanks well my name is Maria sasta and I am a middle school teacher in the Viking Academy me um and this is Bryce he is going to be the president of the club um and Bryce has a little present for everyone sitting there so if you want to just go hand those out this is just a little incentive for everyone to get themselves outside to unplug to get yourself out and enjoy the outdoors wi with whatever you may be doing and will skiing snowboard Club I learned had a snowboard when we used to have it back in
016the day uh two eighth grade students taught me how to snowboard so I'm all for the skiing snowboard Club okay so the um the this is a a picture of a trip that I was on um that is actually a mountain that um I climbed and thought I was going to die but all was good and this is just an an example of how I feel that students need to get outside more and just unplug um you know it's so important and at our what the one of the goals of the club is to have students who aren't into competitive Sports to want to just do some things on our campus we have those great Cross Country Trails behind the school um I just took my seventh graders there two weeks ago and they absolutely
017love it they get outside they um talk with their their classmates um and I want to give that opportunity to a lot of the middle school kids who would enjoy being outside so the other goal is to do this weekly so I wanted to hold the club say on a Monday afternoon post session um we can go outside and then do an off-campus trip my plan for the first hike trip is to go to steuart State Forest which is nearby um we could do that on a Saturday or Sunday has it's no cost to get on to the trails and steuart stfe force it's free and the parents could just drop their kids off at the trail head and we can go on a nice dayong hike get out and experience nature and most importantly
018is just for students to have a sense of of belonging to a club and getting to know the other students in the building sixth graders seventh graders and eighth graders all coming together and having a good time outside no cell phones no Chromebooks just unplug so things we're going to learn um is Trail navigation trail map uh how to read a trail map I know I use all Trails as my app when I hike and it's great but you don't always have service and sometimes your cell phone dies right so it's good to learn how to read a trail map then we have Compass navigation as well so skills like that are going to be taught also um how to read a topographic map which kind of ties into the Regents exam um in the
019high school and so I wanted to incorporate snowshoeing in the wintertime because we have this vast piece of land behind the middle school that is not utilized when it snows people can bundle up and we can go outside and we can learn how to Snowshoe I know I have three pairs of snowshoes alone so I know that if I ask for donations to borrow some equipment um I know that people will step up and Loan us some equipment to learn has Snowshoe um Ski and Snowboard we're just going to board the bus with will and his Club um and I also want to um talk to you know get the kids to use the bike trails at Stewart State Forest there's a lot of bike trails there Bikeway Superstores right across on 17K um we
020could see you know down the line if we can get a hold of some bicycles that the kids can use and use the trails there and we can also just use the trails behind the school um geocaching this is has anybody ever done this before this is where you follow a GPS um you follow GPS and you get to find Little Treasures and boxes and you you leave one and you take one um it's super super cool and kids love it so that's something else that's going to be incorporated um and I do want to bring in paddle boarding we have the pool I have three paddle boards um I would like to teach the kids just just how to use a paddle board and how to have fun you know in the pool and
021that way if they live by a lake or wherever they can go out and have a good time on a paddle board um kaying as well same premise um so there's a lot of guest speakers that I have been in touch with that will come to the Middle School to talk to the kids about um the outdoors um Evan with the Department of Environmental Conservation I've done a couple hikes with him when the Viking Academy was over at the alc building we could just walk across the street and hit the trails and met us there with the dec officers and we just had a great day he led us through some Trails talked about um different environmental things so benefits of an outdoor club emotional and physical well-being of students get the kids outside it's
022so important for them to be outside um improves test scores attention span motivation to learn um meaningful connections with adults strong relationships with peers built through shared experiences being outside and doing whatever activity you're going to be doing so the risks you know it's always we have to manage our risks okay um so we have to have good planning so that's going to be Bryce's job along with the um the vice president and qualified leadership and a commitment from the students for the outdoor club um an adviser with appropriate training I'm certified um Wilderness first aid and certified um first aid uh regular first aid AED and all that good stuff um confirming coverage under the school's insurance policy preparing evacuations plan with trip planning sharing trip itineraries with third parties um school health and
023safety participant agreements so for us the cost is absolutely nothing we're going to be on campus so right now there is no cost to get the kids outside and have them enjoy themselves for you know 40 minutes or however long it's going to be when we're on campus so steuart State Forest is one um idea I have in my head and that price um came up with so the parents can just drop their students off if there's more than 10 kids then would have to have another adult obviously you have to have that that good ratio um no cost at the trail head like I said before um tubing at minow tubing skiing snowboard um we'll take local buses Park tickets and that would be up to the parents that is uh does anybody know
024what that is yes Mohonk Mountain House absolutely beautiful and stunning um so my my goal is to have a um an activity at the end of this season where we could do one of these hikes on a Saturday or Sunday so this is just these are just some pictures of when I was over um in the alcal building and we took the kids over to Stewart State Forest for a fishing trip which was awesome um it was just you know these pictures speak volumes because it was so Serene and so peaceful and they had a great time fishing um that was the year I had all um boys in my class and this is the pond right be behind our school we were talking about this before so this Pond is right behind our school
025and um the kids we go fishing there we collect uh pond water samples for science all that good stuff but it's it's right there for us to just walk through the parking lot and the kids absolutely love it um this is another student last year when we went she was very very very shy and she had the best time the best time being in nature and there's one of the fish that uh this student caught and that's just uh that's it thank you for your support and I'm hoping that we were able to get our kids outside and get them to unplug and us as well you know we need to get out into some fresh air and just get away from our Electronics all right thank you have a good night well so far
026I have an interest of 10 but that's without promoting it so I might have I'm hoping to have more than that um thank you good evening um Dan Cummings I'm a science teacher at the middle school um I have some students with me to help uh represent the fishing club potential fishing club um so so what is the fishing club um as someone who grew up in a fishing family um I started fishing since I as long as I can remember um I want to make this club open to all middle school students regardless of to their fishing skill level um an opportunity to learn how to fly fish and spin fish for those of you that know how to fly fish um it's something I grew up with as well and not a lot
027of uh young folks know how to do that one thing I noticed when I'm on the river or at a pond there's not um a good representation of younger people and that's something I'd like to um bring back students will learn how to properly cast a fly rod or spinning rod students will create their own fly patterns with natural materials to catch own fish that's something I do all the time actually my own fly lures um and something want to teach these guys and a lot of potential students that will join the club um students will also have the opportunity to learn more about Aquatic Life and different types of fishes that can be found in our area I have a couple connections with the dec and could potentially have uh a couple people come
028in and teach them about conservation and all that um I'd like to plan monthly fishing outings um preferably in the Montgomery Walden vicinity there are a lot of places that people can just kind of walk into and um fish and we'd have parent chaperon I have a lot of teachers showing interest in helping out with that as well so might be asking why do we want to start a fishing club well this was sort of an idea that I had but then I had a lot of students coming to me asking me if we could start one so according to a recent poll at the middle school we had approximately 60 students that showed interest in joining a fishing club um which was way more than I thought and multiple students have requested that a
029fishing club would be available at the middle school these guys right here and um in a soet society with constant exposure to technology distractions video games um this is a great way to get away from that um being outside nature to refresh and to relieve some stress and um the opportunity to develop a lifelong hobby this is something I started doing as a kid and I don't think I'll ever stop so so I have a few words from our students here at Valley Central Middle School first we have Matt go the reason why I want to start a fishing club is I could teach my friends how to fish at school for people who don't know how to fish and I want to like learn I want them to uh like help like learn cuz
030like I like seeing my friends like learn different things and it's also like helps me like get like out of like the house and it's a good stress reliever for me and I also like I like catching like a lot of like new fish and like learning about them next up we have Vinnie I like fishing because it brings me outside into nature and it lives my time inside I can also learn new fishing Tech techniques for when I fish with myself and my friends uh I would like to have some time to fish with my friends at school too and next up we have Marcus so there are a few reasons I want the fishing club at VC I want the fishing club because it's an extra activity for people to do if they're
031trying to do something new if people join the club they get to learn how fish put get to learn how to fish put and take take off lures how to cast and tips and tricks on how you should fish you might find out that fishing is your new hobby but you can't do that without trying this new amazing Club the real reason why they want to join is because they just want to show me up so thank you any questions thank [Applause] you thank again to scroll through this it's just yeah that's fine okay so last month I presented the charter of the club but I am back with some students who are interested in being a part a big part of the club so Marie is going to be taking on the president role
032and daelene will be the vice president uh today I want to talk to you about the activities the club is going to be doing so our mission is to cultivate more inclusive and understanding environment within our educational institution so as a Spanish teacher right now at 8th grade I want to open this to grades six through eight and it's going to be a place where students can learn in the environment where they can speak about all of their cultural education and what they can bring to us um provide a platform for students to engage learn and celebrate the rich tapestry of cultures that we have within our student body I grew up in a place where I there were a lot of different cultures Italian Irish Dominican Puerto Rican um a lot of Chinese envir
033people there as well and I learned a lot from it and I want to be able to bring that into the school and into the culture of the student body um it's also our mission to empower students to become respectful GL citizens who appreciate the value of diversity oh I had another we had another slide that I uploaded no there's more I don't think it was okay um I spoke to Teresa today and I uploaded a different one I guess it's not there all right well the activities of the Club we're going to be doing uh pass supports so the school students are going to be having pass supports where they're going to be keeping track of all the different places that we're going to be learning about one of them is going to be
034going and celebrating each month different types of celebrations from different countries every single month so we'll be meeting twice a month the first one will be to learn about it watch videos about it and plan for our next meeting of how we want to do what we want to celebrate and what we want to do a lot of students showed interest in films and music and they want to learn more about that as well and something that we're going to do is expose them to that and kind of also have them speak to us about it another part that we want to do is uh Sports around the world and learn about what it is that makes each sport important in that geography and here are some quotes of some students that um showed interest
035right now we have have 17 students who have shown interest plus the two ladies here so um I'm going to pass over to Marie to read the first part and then explain to us why you would like to join go ahead and just read the first two um I want to I want a space where I can learn about my culture and I want to learn about art and films from other countries I want to listen to music from around the world um I want to clarify misconceptions and stereotypes stereotypes that affect my culture I also want to teach and learn about other cultures that are that are different from mine and when I asked the ladies why they want to join the club they have very authentic answers so would you like to start
036um people can think different about different cultures that are um not correct and when they speak to it about other people it can make them feel bad so that's one of the reasons um I think it's so we can help other people like know about other places and cultures I really wish that we had the slides for the activities where posted um I'm sorry about that I don't know what happened but I do want it to speak to you and have my students here who do want to show support um and yeah so that is what I have for you today I'm sorry about that I don't know what happened to the slides yes so some of the the big thing was that I wanted to have the students keep track of all that they're
037learning and that would be through the past support that they're going to be creating and every single one of the events that we're going to do is going to be part of a different country where the students are from or where they want want to learn about as well anything else ladies no that's what thank [Applause] you [Music] all good next we'll move on to report and we'll begin with our student Representatives all right hi everyone so I'm covering student issues for this month um so I recently started going up to more students trying to spread that we student representatives and asking them like um what they want from VC to change what are their positives and a lot of them just had blank didn't know what to answer answer and so what I decided
038to do was I because these people I was asking was my friends so I went on my Instagram I just posted a quick Google form for the answer so it would be the same people I'd be asking in person and I got over 15 responses of people that maybe they wouldn't say these things to myself like in person so I started off small I just wanted to see like how they would answer and I was going to print this to you guys but I wanted to wait until I got all the responses until right before so how I started off was I did a um question about the lunches because I know that is a very popular topic where they could pick their choices and we got like an overwhelming um response that the lunches
039are a lot better um some people would like more grab and go options we have four votes for more grab and go options just for like a quick um lunch where you can't have like a tray um people think that are a lot better but could use a little bit of improvement um and then recently I watched the um a guy from Monroe do his presentation and he had the idea of doing voting on Fridays for lunch so I put that as like a check option that was surprisingly not a favorable option people I guess don't want to vote for what they want Fridays but moving on I um had people do a space for adding their own ideas for lunch so one person actually I think two people said they want gluten-free options which
040is something I never thought about and I think that would be actually a great Implement because I do know some people that are gluten- free um I got two people saying they want paninis back as an option um and then one negative which it was like half positive half negative I got a lot of people that enjoy the salad bar in the sandwich bar but what's happening is because we have the sandwich bar and salad bar the lines for the hot lunches are becoming extremely long and one person even said that um the lines are impossible because the hot lunch is so much more popular so it takes half the period to get hot lunch um and there's no time to eat because they're waiting on like the one line that's hot lunch so having
041a better system for that but still allowing there to be a healthy option because I did get I think around five people saying they do like that there is a healthy option is nice um moving on I had I think three people say that the vending machines would be nice if they're open and I had this idea even before is that people including me like if you don't have a period free that's not lunch or or if you have it before or after the lunch periods you have no access to water or any type of snack and even myself one time I wanted to get water and I went into the cafeteria and I couldn't because they said their systems were down because it was an off period so I think at least having like
042the um vending machines that are water open to students in those periods that are maybe not lunch periods would be like a nice addition and also that would help alleviate the Dollar General situation because I think of having those available for students to get snacked they wouldn't be walking to Dollar General um so that was a lot for the food then I got some people I got one person saying that the bathrooms some of the bathrooms aren't open and I know this is due to um like people messing around in the bathrooms but I know especially the English bathrooms are sometimes not open which can be a little bit of a hassle walking around the school trying to find a bathroom and yes so and I got one I got two people talk about that
043they would like one more post session because if they don't have a period that is in um a lunch period or aligns with another teachers's free period it's impossible for them to make up work and they're just continuously becoming behind and then I also left the space for positives and I got two people say that new changes have been very good um and that the yogurt parfait is a hit and all right so that's it for my Google form um I had the idea that especially since I'm a senior I'm noticing that students are having um like I was just speaking to a girl who said that she doesn't even know where to start with her college so I think if you could Implement some type of consumer like I know consumer science for um
044the earlier um grade levels if there could be a class maybe like half a year just to get students ready for that would be awesome because she was uh this girl I was talking to in the study hall she was like I don't even know where to go I only have my essay done so having that would be a great thing I think to help out students um I recently went to the Middle School uh I like that there was the pizza social I saw that when I was tutoring I thought that was nice I don't remember having that and there was just one more thing I saw on the Google form which I actually did before I saw this Google form is that more spirited events would be awesome um one person said that
045there's like like pep rallies would be cool um yeah so that's all I got but thank you uh I'm reporting on around the school for this meeting uh I know math Honor Society bolon board is soon to be up as well as other honor societies I know are setting up bulletin boards for seasons and whatnot I'm actually one of the members taking on the responsibility for the math hon bu bulletin board as well as a few other members and we should have that up sometime around Thanksgiving and it'll be winter themed lasting through the beginning of January and until the next group gets to redecorate the board uh cap and gowns are out ready for orders and this year's the this year the orders are through herf Jones it's $27 for the cap gown and
046tassel though if you order after December 16th there's a late fee of $10 best to order soon as possible but even if you missed the deadline it's better late than never parent teacher conferences are next week November 20th and 21st uh like the math on society Bolton board different clubing with all different types of school decorations for parents to see when they arrive and walk around uh the bathroom system has been reported working very well the handheld passes are very like they're simple but definitely very effective they're limiting the amount of students in the bathrooms for sure and as well as like messing around everything just happening in the bathrooms it's like it's always limited to I think five or less is all I've ever seen all I've ever heard of uh post sessions are
047still a bit of a strange spot every teacher I think it feels like every teacher is guaranteed to have post sessions someone on Tuesdays with the schedule alignments but other I know other days teachers in certain club meetings might not have been on other days and it's definitely been helpful but it's only like if those teachers are able to offer their time and if to ask beforehand whatnot I know there are some teachers who all offer their time almost every single post session as well as they can but it's not enough for a lot of stuff and this is um what's called it's been a big help uh as I know there are plethora of reasons to Why students need to stay more than once a week I'm definitely included here I know I stay
048more than once a week definitely every week for sure that's all I have so I have school events and actually miss AA mentioned some of the ones that I have here um the future teachers Club is has been working hard and they are actually introducing a storybook time at the Josephine Louis Public Library for fourth and fifth graders on the dates here um I'm personally a member of future teachers club and they have been working very hard as in to create a name for themselves so to say um also as a business student I was able to attend the jet Stadium trip where the sports entertainment marketing and college marketing classes were able to travel to metti stadium for a day just about an hour an hour 15 away it was very fun to be
049able to go there see all of the VIP seatings we got to walk where Taylor Swift walked of course um we saw all of the background stuff between changing the lights from the Jets and the Giants and the different colors for them of course all the background stuff the girls varsity soccer team of course won their section Champions um the boys and girls team actually were able to walk through the hallways before their games where students were able to cheer them on as they ran through the hallways to their games the vchs math team um competed at Montella High School on the 25th the senior team was also held on the 18th of October and we were told as students that we had some of the best food that in recent years so that was
050a big um good thing for us the homecoming dance of course while it did happen a while away it did went very smoothly um I'm part of SJ and it was really good to put everything together and it went very smoothly we had lots of help from all the class councils to put all the decorations together and we did it in I believe it was two hours so and then the second annual swim off was held on November 8th and I do have a space here because I hadn't known what who would win technically but from from what I've heard the girls swim team kind of came in first for a little bit and then they also took sixth place sixth place at the section n championships this weekend and then last but not least
051the club pictures have been taken place on the eth and the ninth um each period about one or two clubs had their pictures taken for the yearbook and the senior big picture also took place was very lengthy but we got through it and that's it I had the opportunity to visit um all three senior citizen uh groups and that was in Walden Maybrook and Montgomery and had the opportunity to speak to our senior citizens many of them were students in Valley Central or had grandchildren in Valley Central or actually had some type of relationship so they were able to share some history um provid some suggestions and was very excited especially about the high school campus and thought it looks lovely um but are looking forward to continuing to be part of our community and
052different ways to engage and and be active um actually on site so we're talking about some ways that they can participate and do that homecoming events I also went to the dance and to the football game and had an opportunity to dance a little bit at the at the at the dance and see the students um play the game as well as how beautiful they looked and dressed and all excited to be together um we are fortunate to have um the Walden Rotary Club to give us a generous donation of dictionaries to all third graders um this effort is part of the national effort called the national dictionary project the dictionaries will be distributed by members of the Walden Rotary Club at all of the District Four elementary schools as well as most precious blood
053and as as well um during the American Education week and this effort supports the broad English Language Art standards set by the state and federal government and dubils nicely with the information writing initiative in the Valley Central Schools uh just wanted to share there were many questions about the extracurricular activity funds especially for the baseball team and just wanted to share that that money is actually um thecid Ed by students and what happens to that money so this year when the student the team is formed after baseball tryouts the students will come together and discuss the ways in which they want the money to be spent and a decision a collaborative decision based on what the students want will be made and there will be a survey that's given to students so that they can
054come together to come up with decisions to make sure that all of the funding is spent um on what students have decided we had the opportunity um Miss moika and myself had the opportunity to attend the Business Council of Greater Montgomery annual event and met with many business owners in the community and began to talk about some possibilities on supporting Valley cental whether it's internships as well as looking at some of our curriculum areas um so that we can make sure that we are together um extending our learning and collaborating well with the community I was able to attend the Dei committee this past week and we have begun to talk about next steps as as a committee and looking at not only the cultural celebrations but also looking about some things that we want
055to dive in deeper to look at some particular data and we had our veterans memorial rededication of our monument and able to have many veterans there as well as our own students to rededicate the monument and honor our Vikings who um gave their ultimate sacrifice of being in the Vietnam War and um it was a very well attended but also very um rewarding opportunity to share their legacy and what is to come and that they will be remembered um for years to come just wanted to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to um also review my newsletter to share that we will be having free lunch for all of our students um we did apply and were awarded the grant to actually have that happen and that will begin on December 1st so that
056will be for breakfast as well as for lunch and as as Dylan pointed out it's parent um teacher conferences this week and it's really important to have the opportunity to meet with your teachers as well as have discussions about progress and how that we can work together to support our students growth so I encourage everyone to attend and if you aren't if you're unable to attend you can reschedule a time that works for you so that you can communicate with your students teachers thank you you okay so um missa took one of my options one of my points here in regards to attending Business Council however um in addition to that we did have our superintendent conference day on November 7th and we've been receiving some positive feedback in regards to the opportunities that were
057presented at that conference um in an effort to be aligned to community consistency and coherence um sessions were given to sessions and opportunities were given to teachers to work as departments um in secondary as well as an elementary as well as grade team meetings across the district to discuss data and common formative assessments as well and we we will continue to work on our building our community consistency and coherence as well as alignment to student engagement and sense of belonging so with that we we have also started our school visits um that have already happened as administrations in both the middle school and Walden Elementary School and those we are looking at indicators of student engagement in ela classrooms we are also going to the high school and to Montgomery Elementary school this week as
058well in continuation of again building that Community coherence and consistency that's all I have yes um I attended it was on uh Monday October 16th I was one of the 375 New York school board members that voted for 56 resolutions where 35 resolutions were adopted and our adopted resolutions matched what we were um looking for at the last meeting I have them here if anyone would like to take a look the uh discuss resolutions votes aligned with those that were adopted in my three years of being the voting delegate this was the most debated um and most attended the meeting started about 4 and we ended about midnight so it was it was a marathon um a lot of coffee um just a reminder what is this business meeting um it's NBA's advocacy efforts on
059the state and federal level where board members across the state adopt resolutions that become pos position statements for legislative agenda so that's just a brief what how you know that it's an important um step to bring to legislature the Hest topics that um the free lunches were hot topics um yeah there was a lot of debate um the buses you know having um the energy efficient buses and so yeah a lot of times we did go off there was a lot it was very spirited um yeah and and uh the uh uh president and vice president were also elected eight hours of spirit it was eight hours it was long and it was a Monday it was a Monday so it was a long week actually felt like a long week next thank you next
060is the guidance advisor committee um I actually attended that as well and uh that was on the 25th so I attended the school counselor's advisory Council where um all the schools were present um there were Student Assistance coun counselors the school counselors um Administration was there um one the very first thing that was addressed was The Chronic School absences and prevention a lot of parents are taking kids on vacation uh during school um and also they talked about different measures one measure is instead of an administrator calling or an attendance person calling uh teachers on an elementary level have been calling you know we missed you today not where where are you uh but we've missed you today is everything okay how can I help you so that was really nice to hear um also
061the American School counsel Association it's ASA um that is the association for school counselors and how we align it to our guidance plan here and Community Resources were shared amongst uh between all the schools um as well as their annual destination day that one of the counselors coordinates um that'll take place in May that's it great thank you health and safety committee that is me some highlights um everyone knows the cell phone coverage is spotty so theyve worked on um Horizon a little B better um dat detectors as you guys know are pretty much in every bathroom correct um there's still some missing so working on getting those added and there's threat assessment training with them last week and apparently hoodies cell phones and earbuds are are an issue at the high school so are
062supposed to be down kids are putting them down and then going around the corner and putting them back up um cell phones are allowed permission I guess some students are that and earbuds suppos to do what they want um so yeah those are the highlights of that meeting that's it all right thank you next is the diversity equity and inclusion committee uh one was to review the Hispanic Heritage Month activities um that have taken place um um this year and um it was a really vibrant conversation about all the positive stuff that was both done and seen and experienced and um a lot of room for recommendations that were presented by different groups um on the committee which is made up of parents and teachers and staff and um and students and um and then
063we broke into groups to start to take a look at um areas um to consider you know assessing you know um how we're doing in terms of equity um and that was a fun activity um um and we are just one stakeholder so I know that that activity is going to be spread out further um to begin to start to hone in on prioritizing some areas that we can start to work on as a as a district oh you can leave it on community uh believe I attended a I know I attended a football game at some point in between the last meeting and and this meeting um I think that's pretty much it for for this time um I attended the Shakespeare's Club um play it was great Diana and I attended we had
064a good time Mr Miller did a great job uh and I also attended on the 25th I attended vcef meeting um just as an announcement the Tricky Tray will be will take place at the middle school on December 88th doors open open at 5:30 and tickets can be purchased at the door and donations are being um accepted uh funds that are used um are teacher grants um and also uh they donate funds to the school for just extra activities as well um I also attended football game volleyball games um Fran and I sat in on a or did a uh Finance overview meeting I know it was early in the morning so to provide that yeah Jackie and Brad did an excellent job going through everything for us um I had something else on my
065mind but I can't remember what I was able to attend uh many different sporting events and the senior faculty te was Wonder ful as usual oh I remember one of was the um Spanish Honor Society induction that was what the other one is it now yes um I was able to attend the senior faculty te and you were right the food was amazing it was and the lobby looked beautiful um also the Shakespeare Midsummer Nights Dream play was fabulous um I also was able to go to the um both inductions for the French Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society um I went to the memorial uh dedication which was it was beautiful beautiful very emotional and also the PTO art expo at Walden Elementary I was able to attend several modified soccer games I
066was able to cheer on the varsity girls soccer in their semi-final game and I was able to attend the Vietnam memorial red dedication um and I got to say Taylor Longo sang the star spangle banner and she killed it sh so wonderful yeah it's really good that's it okay thank you I also attended some sporting events and uh the rededication which was really nice um Diana and I were walking into the senior te and walked through the memorial before and we were we just stopped and we and we talked about it because it was weird cuz been there for so many years and you just kind of walked by it and now it it really has a nice presence and and it's just came out really nice so that that was really great so okay
067um next we're g to move on to public comment we just have one okay what's that one yeah okay so we're just going to start our public comment session um it's important for us to hear concerns and issues from our community thank you very much um we ask you to be respectful um do not mention anybody by name or Association um be civil and um thank you very much well first I want to start off thanking you for I know it was a long time for valley central to get the armed guard in each of the buildings so thank you and um and you guys are doing a phenomenal job I think even after hours having a greeter at least at the high school so the door sets not open I know that that's not
068the case in neighboring districts okay one thing I've been meaning to come here since the incident last year down in the city with a 5-year-old bringing a firearm into school have yet to come luckily nothing has happened my concern really is we're doing nothing for an internal threat okay metal detectors we know neighboring districts have them I don't know what the cost is I put in an inquiry or company it it obviously if it's millions of dollars it would be something that would take a while to get in place I will get more information from the company but we're doing nothing for an internal threat a police officer at the front door if somebody in a in in the English Wing I think that's one all the way in the back of the building if
069a kid has a weapon up there by the time someone responds to that we have match Casualty that could all be avoided with metal detectors so if we can just look into that at all buildings because we know locally it's happens I mean locally being New York state it happens a child brings in a gun into school okay we could avoid it metal detectors in all buildings I mean it should be Statewide I don't know why we're waiting on this I know a lot of schools now have the armed guard but let's do something for an internal threat to protect everybody teachers students everybody that's involved thank you than thank you [Music] okay uh we're gonna we did CL Charter so we're going to move on oh yeah you guys [Laughter] know you're welcome to
070stay almost done we're we're almost done anyway actually so might as well stay all right know you want to all right all business approval of Club Charters no objections I'm just going to do them together uh can I get a motion to approve Diana second Angela all in favor I opposed 70 thank you all right now we'll go on to new business approval of 2425 budget planning calendar motion to approve Katie second second Sarah all in favor I opposed 70 thank you approval of 2324 District internal audit new J hler motion to approve Katie second Fran all in favor I oppose 70 thank you approval of agreement between Valley Central School District and alcohol and drug awareness Council of Orange County motion to approve I make a motion Sarah second I'll second Angela all in
071favor I opposed passes 70 okay so uh that's the end of the agenda you guys are going to go home we're going to go back into executive session to discuss litigation and negotiations I would like to thank Matt and Colin for uh streaming us live tonight and we will come out of executive session close the meeting and take no additional action so thank you very much enjoy the rest of the night I'll make a motion motion to go into executive session by Sarah second up