April 7, 2026 - Board of Education Meeting (Part 2)

001We were lucky we're lucky um bring it up in that um we were able to reduce actually the teacher retirement system contribution because that rate went down. So we we reduced that even though we increased health insurance. So that's why while employee benefits went up 3.2% had we not been able to reduce the teacher retirement um expense line it would have gone up a lot more. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Okay, I'll let take care of it. On to item 7.01. The board of education hereby accepts the minutes of the March 17, 2026 meeting. May I have a first? Trusty Smith. Second, Trustee Jared. Any questions or comments. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Uh item 8.01, uh Superintendent District News. I'm sorry that was fast. >> All right then. Good evening

002again. Um, everybody, please join us Monday, April 20th, which is actually like a week and a half away, uh, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria right in this building, the middle high school building to enjoy delicious local food, enjoy student performances, explore student artwork, and take part in an exciting silent auction. Admission is free. Small plates are just $3 each. And the event supports the Beller Bash and Antiora Booster Club. For anyone who might not be familiar with the Balor Bash, it is an allnight alcohol and drug-free celebration for graduating seniors. Special event gives seniors a safe, fun way to celebrate together after graduation. And it is something that our students look forward to for their entire high school career. One of the highlights of the meet greet meet is the incredible lineup

003of local chefs and restaurants who share their culinary talents with us to support our students. These are the people who make this uh beloved community event possible. And I just want to preemptively thank them. Um, they include Pikamoose restaurant and tap room, the Phoenicia Diner, Pika's family, Pika's Farm Table, Oliver's at Howland House, The Clubhouse at Shandin, Dandelion at Eastwind Hotels, Tito Bandidos, PD Canteen, Betina's Cafe, Phoenicia Pizza 28, and the Yum Yum Noodle Bar. Um, so anyone who comes, please bring your appetite and your wallet. Um, this was a a really good uh that happened at the state level. At their March 2026 meeting, the board of regents approved for permanent adoption the amendment to section 100.2 of the regulations of the commissioner of education requiring instruction in personal finance education for public school

004students in grades K through 12. The amendment requires instruction in personal finance education to be provided to elementary students by the end of fourth grade, to middle school school students by the end of 8th grade, and to high school students by the end of 12th grade. Uh the amendment provides for a multi-year phase in approach um with uh middle grade bands grades five through eight and high school bands grade bands 9 through 12 implementation beginning in the next school year and elementary b grade bands implementation beginning in the following school year. And just to note this is an instructional requirement not a graduation requirement. So no need to be concerned about seniors or transfers. Um, there are a lot of resources on the New York State Education personal finance education page. I was personally really

005impressed with the resources and guidance provided by state ed. And I think this focus on personal finances will really benefit students enormously in the future. Don't mind me. My eyes are just dry. I'm literally not crying. Uh, kindergarten registration is open. Uh we've been working through all incoming kindergarten students who are already known to us. We currently have 54 students that are known to us. Uh 49 of these have completed the enrollment process already. Uh and we have been in communication with the additional students and their families. But if you know anyone um who anyone who has an incoming kindergarten student, please encourage them to reach out to our registar and enroll. The kindergarten screening will be in the first week of June and we have begun scheduling appointments already. And the screening process is

006a really wonderful opportunity for our incoming students to meet some of the faculty and staff they will see in the buildings in the fall. And it also allows for our faculty to assess the strengths of the incoming students and have a sense of their personalities so they can be placed in classrooms with thoughtfulness. Um this week on Thursday we will uh some schoolboard members and I will be attending the annual meeting of Olter Boseies. This is a required meeting during which Olster Bosey's leadership team shares the administrative budget that as assistant superintendent Clair mentioned all of districts will vote on and uh the highlights of the evening include that some of the current BOSIE students speak to all of us and share their experience from their Boseies programs. The students are all eloquent and serve

007as really wonderful ambassadors for Olster Boseies. And as an added bonus, we are all served a really incredible meal that is prepared and served by the Boseis culinary students. Um, just as a very brief update, we are in the process of hiring the next uh elementary principal and I hope to have a candidate to recommend at our next board meeting so we can move forward with that process. Also at our next meeting, we will receive an update from our athletic director, John O'Donnell, who will share the achievement of achievements of our student athletes for this year so far. Um, and also at our next meeting, assistant superintendent Laughen will provide an overview of the PD and instructional coaching that was provided to our faculty this year. And today I'm going to ask her if she

008would be um willing to pick up the microphone for a brief moment and give a little overview of the work that the AI circle members of our district have been participating in this year. Good evening everyone. um our AI circle team on March 24th we participated in a full day session at Olster Boseies with regional districts uh Bosey's technology integration specialists and guest speakers to really work on advancing and refining our district's AI work over the past several months K12 teachers and administrators have been exploring AI platforms particularly school AI to assess how AI can support instruction and student learning High school students are engaging with AI on a very limited monitored basis as part of this exploration. The team is reviewing current research and guidance in addition to the Brookings Institute report which the

009board is reviewing. Uh the team is also reviewing the Stanford University's the evidence base in AI K12 which came out last month. So we're looking at both. The team is developing a staff and student survey to gather perspectives um that will be sent out hopefully within the next month and our review of the results of the survey which again are for staff and students together with the team's learning since September will inform our recommendations to the superintendent and the board policy committee regarding potential revisions to the NISBA model policy. Thank you. >> Thank you both. Any questions or comments for the superintendent or assistant superintendent? >> The student and staff survey. Is that to the students and the staff participating in the circle or is that to all students and staff? >> That will be

010to everyone. Any other questions or comments? All right. Um, on to item 9.01, board district news. Do any trustees have any news to report to the board? It's been a quiet couple of weeks. >> I know, right? Spring break. I will just say that I um I did go to Monroe, Connecticut um a couple of Saturdays ago uh because my granddaughter is in the Ontario Color Guard and they it was like it was incredible. It was like I I had never been to anything like that before and my initial thought was, "Oh, this is going to be a long day." Sorry, Marley, if you're listening. And um but it was really super exciting and they were some of them were super adorable because they were really young and others uh we didn't stay till the

011very end because it would have been about midnight when we left there but um they they really go up to college age and so and my daughter you know said that they're spectacular but uh our little team did really well and uh we were super impressed with them. So, uh, you know, even though our our team is small, they're mighty. Yes. Small. Small but mighty. All right. Uh, any other comments from the board? Any other district news? Okay. So, we will move on to acknowledging public comments at our last meeting. The board will acknowledge uh public be heard comments from our last meeting from Steve Suo and Trustee Kudson has generously agreed to read our statement. >> Yes, I'm going to read this text that we read before every public be heard and it's a

012mouthful so I'm going to um try to get through it. Okay. Uh public and students may comment on any agenda or non-aggenda item. The board appreciates hearing from the public, including students, on any agenda or non-aggenda item. Please understand that by our adopted parliamentary procedure, the board can engage in discussion or answer questions during public be heard. Please know that we hear you and take all your comments into consideration. The board does reserve the right to correct any inaccuracies or misinformation during public be heard. Please limit your comments to three minutes. be civil and do not name any particular individuals or promote any commercial ventures or products. People wishing to express individual student or personnel concerns can bring them to the superintendent's attention in private. Further, all individuals at board meetings are expected to abide

013by the rules for public conduct on school property as set forth in the district's code of conduct. At board meetings, speakers and observers may not engage in behavior that disrupts the meeting, such as shouting, interrupting others, blocking the free movement of others, or obstructing the views of others. In the event of such disruption, the board president will remind those in attendance of the rules under this policy. Any board member may request a brief recess of the meeting, which would serve as a cooling down period. The board president may order the removal of those who are a threat to the safety of others or who disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting. We understand community members are passionate about certain issues. We all want our schoolboard meetings to serve as an example to our students that

014members of our school board and members of our community can deal with controversial issues in a civil manner and show mutual respect for one another. In that spirit, we ask that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect for differing views of others. >> Thank you, Trusty Kudson. All right, our first speaker is Jude uh Corigan Frank, Judy, I'm so sorry, but introduce yourself so we get it right. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Jude Kjen Frank. I'm a resident of West Hurley and the parent of children in the Antiora School District. I'm here to ask the board of education to pass a proposed resolution that provides for protections of immigrant students and families. And you should have uh packets that we brought. I'd like to first tell you about myself

015and then explain why this resolution is so needed. I'm the mom of three children, two who are currently at Bennett Elementary and one who will follow in their footsteps. I am also a former New York City and Baltimore City public school teacher specializing in dance education. My family moved to this area two and a half years ago because of a change in my husband's job. After speaking with about 20 principles in the area, my family selected to live in the Antiora School District. Although we all had a tough transition leaving our home in Baltimore after so many years, the one thing I always felt good about was the school my eldest attended in this district. He was happy and thriving in school, and that was because he felt so safe. What weighs heavily on me,

016however, is that not all children feel safe going to school. The threat of ICE presence in the schools increases stress and impacts attendance of vulnerable children and risks trauma to all students, regardless of their immigration status. The resolution I'm asking you to consider tonight directly addresses this issue. Immigrant children and their families should not have to worry about whether or not their schools are doing absolutely everything they can to protect them. This is where you, the board, come in. I applaud the board for adopting the 2025 resolution to protect our immigrant children. However, as all parents know, as soon as you think you have a handle on what your child needs, they change and you have to adapt. The situation in 2026 is not the situation of 2025 and we need to adapt with a

017more expansive resolution. The Olter rapid response resolution increases protections of our most vulnerable students and this is needed now. The resolution proposed by Olster Rapid Response with input from our im immigrant community follows guidance from the NYCLU, the New York State Attorney General's Office, and the National Education Association. Kingston already adopted this resolution in full, and so drafted their own largely inspired by Kingston's resolution. This resolution is also currently being considered by Newaltz and Rondout Valley districts. Auntie must bravely unite with these other districts in our county to provide every single student uh in our dis to protect every single student in our district. We must send the message to our immigrant community that theora school district stands with them and will protect them. We must unite in our allyship of our most vulnerable students.

018We must model for our children how to show up for those at risk. If we do not create a safe learning environment for every child, we are taking away their right to an education and the ability to learn, grow, and thrive. ICE is active in Olter County now. Please be pro proactive and show our community that the Anora Board of Education cares about the safety and well-being of every student and family in this district by adopting this resolution swiftly. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jude. Uh, Jeff Bailey. >> Good evening. My name is Jeff Bailey. Um, I am a taxpayer. I have two children who are not currently at Bennett or Antura or Bennett or Antiora Middle School, but will soon be in ninth grade. Um, firstly, thank you for your service to this district

019and this community. I really appreciate all the hard work you do. U, Miss Kurjen Frank said a lot of what I would have liked to said, but what I would like to add to that is I am also a bus driver in contract with this service. And during my day, I chat with teachers, other bus drivers, students all day long. I love my job. It's amazing. But um over the past week or so, as sort of like the shock and awe portion of the last year's immigration contract has subsided and like we're working focusing on like the series finale of America right now. So like we're uh I asked all of I asked my bosses at first student. I asked the dis I asked the head of the district uh for the bus company of

020the district and I asked all the teachers I talked to and um no one could explain to me what I am to do as a bus driver if I run into ICE. Not my bosses, not the district, not any teachers. So, I'm so glad that we that we take the stance uh of making this school feel safe, but I do think that like >> we need to take this opportunity to extend the dialogue and really really get down into detail because I just don't I don't know what to do. If I have a student on my bus and I'm dropping them off and I is there, I don't know what to do. I mean, I know what I would personally do, but I would actually like to know what is the right thing to do

021from the school's perspective so that that that child is safe and I am safe legally. I just um so I feel like uh the resolution uh that that is being put forward to you is a really important beginning of a continuing dialogue to make sure all of our students, no matter their immigration status, feel safe. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Jeff. Uh, Emily Saxs. Hello. Um, thank you uh for your service and for hearing me out today. Okay. Uh, so my name is Emily Saxs. Uh, I grew up here, went to Auntie Schools and have a child at Wto Elementary and another one close behind her. Um, I too am here to ask the board to adopt the UR resolution to protect this community uh, from ICE. Um, and I also want to

022start by thanking the board for um, its humanity and foresight in passing the 2025 resolution. Um, I don't want to repeat everything that has been said. I really want to tell you what I understand about this moment from my own professional experience and why I think we need a stronger resolution given where we are right now. Um, so we do know that now ICE officers are routinely violating civil and human rights and are not operating under the legal and ethical constraints that federal law enforcement has historically been held to. Um, as has been said, we know that families in affected areas are finding it necessary to withdraw from workplaces, school, public life because they don't feel safe and that our neighboring districts have found it necessary to adopt a stronger resolution. Um, here's where I

023want to share my professional experience. I'm a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma for over 20 years. Um, I've worked with survivors of violent crime and military sexual trauma, as well as survivors of torture and political violence from around the world. Um, I've sat with people who were taken by the men with guns and the people who witnessed these things years later. One thing that I've learned is that the worst part for many survivors isn't always the violence itself. It's the apparent indifference of bystanders. people, sometimes community members who could have helped, um maybe uh who weren't prepared to help, who stood by. Um and that apparent indifference really messes people up. Um it also doesn't work out so well for the bystanders. Being unprepared to act at a critical moment eats at people and it

024eats at communities. The other side of this is just as true. Preparedness matters. Community solidarity matters. When people know that their institutions have their backs, that people acknowledge the seriousness and nearness of the danger, that they've thought ahead, they have a plan, they've drawn a line, then people can often cope through cope through otherwise devastating circumstances. The board now has an opportunity to be better prepared and to draw that line to signal to every family in this district, regardless of their status, that this school community will not be a passive bystander. And my experience convinces me that the risks of inaction at this juncture are greater than the risks of action. So I ask you to adopt a stronger resolution, not because it will res resolve things or solve everything, but because it will mean

025something. And in moments of fear and uncertainty, Thank you, Emily. Alec Michon, you're not the only one that has trouble. Um, yeah. Thanks for this opportunity and thanks for the work you've already done and thanks for the resolution of uh on uh protecting our students and I'm also here to speak to the uh proposed resolution and uh the people before me I think have really laid out I think some of the real important points of this. I just want to emphasize uh that if you look at the resolution uh you'll see that everything in it is is done under the in terms of the of the of the laws that apply. We're not asking to go beyond the laws that apply. We're asking uh to devise measures that actually make the law work for the

026students. Um and um I think as people have said this is uh there's a particular important importance to this in this period because we are living under an administration which has made clear that it has no respect for the rule of law uh and for you know the welfare and justice of the most vulnerable people uh in our community. By the way, I I should say I speak as a taxpayer. Uh a member of the community. Uh I don't have students in the schools. I'm more a member of the grizzled old man section of our community. Uh but these matter to me. Uh what happens in our schools what hap is connected to what happens in our communities and and you as the board have a particular are in a particular position to be able

027to take these steps in this context. Many steps need to be taken in other contexts as well. But this is your uh domain. This is where you have the opportunity and the ability uh to strengthen uh uh the rule of law uh in our society in this particular venue and um I hope you find it um you know that this is something that you also agree with and uh and will take up. >> That's it. Thanks. Thank you, Alec. Uh Rob Harris. Um hi everyone. Uh my name is Rob Harris. Um I have a third grader at Woodstock Elementary and a sixth grader at the middle school here. Um, I am here in support of the resolution as well, uh, protecting immigrant students and families and ensuring safe schools. Um, I don't have a lot

028to add other than being a community member. Um, what Emily said earlier about being uh, sort of a passive bystander, something that I personally take very seriously. Um, so the reason I'm here is to try to do a little bit to um, not be that. And uh I guess I just uh hope and implore this is an opportunity for all of us to do whatever we can to protect all all the students um that we have in our district and make sure that everyone's safe in the um current climate that we exist in. So thank you. >> Thank you Rob. Would anyone else like to speak who has not signed up? If anybody wishes to speak, you can. All right. I just want to say that as uh Trusty Kudson read in the statement, we

029do not typically respond uh to public uh public beheard comments. Um we did receive a number of emails uh encouraging us to consider the URR resolution. Um you know, we are looking at it. um we will discuss it. It's not on the agenda. By the time we received a number of the emails, our agenda had already been set for tonight's meeting. So, um we will be discussing it as a board uh moving forward and we will also be responding to your emails and we we appreciate your time. Um oh, break. Yes, we have a fivem minute break. I I actually said we would stretch it to 10 minutes if anybody wants to speak to any of us uh as individuals. We would not be speaking on behalf of the board, only on behalf of ourselves.

030And Amanda is going to set a timer so we don't go over All right, we are back from our break and we're moving on to item 13.01 discussion and possible action. Uh this is the establishment of our 2026 facilities capital reserve fund proposition. Misslair, do we need to read this or um is this a public conversation? Okay. All right. >> You do not have to read the entire thing if the board wants to glance it over and if everyone still has to vote on it and agree. >> Okay. >> Perhaps for the public watching we could just summarize. sure >> what this is. Uh it came up in in the budget presentation, but um so we have an ongoing capital project that is scheduled to exhaust by the end of it a previously established capital

031reserve fund, which was the same amount as this one, $10 million. And the way these work is the the account is set up and it gets funded over a number of years and eventually it is fully funded and then hopefully when it is needed then um the district can go to those funds to to help defay the cost of of building improvements and all the things that capital improvements. The only thing that I would add to that very comprehensive summary is that before the district can use those funds, the voters have to approve the use of them and the purpose for which they will be used. But we can't deviate from the purposes that are listed um on the resolution to establish the fund. >> Correct. And and the other thing I think it that

032it would be good for people to know is that there is no specific timeline here that it has to be funded X dollars a year, right? it. So, so it's sort of like like this year we had a a a a holiday from our health insurance company on premiums because they were required to give a holiday to all their members and that that so when the district has a small windfall like that then this having this uh capital improvement account set up would enable the district to put aside for future needs. And and as we said during the capital improvement uh uh sorry during the budget presentation the the EV bus part of it is just that is a contingency that may be coming down the road that that would be good for the district

033to be able to have different ways of funding it not ra not necessarily having to fund the whole thing through other you know the traditional ways. So um that's what this is. Are there any questions about this? I know we haven't did a first or second, but even before we do that, any more questions? No. Okay. So, what we're what we're uh suggesting that we should vote on is that this this resolution will proposition rather will uh appear on the legal notice uh for the annual meeting, the budget vote, and the election. May I have a first? Trusty Jared. Second. Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Okay, that's unanimous. Thank you. On to the consent agenda. The board hereby approves items number 14.02 through point 14.12. May I have a first? Trusty

034Smith second. Trusty Jared. Um any questions or comments? Go ahead. >> I just want to congratulate the um student from Boseies that's going to the robot robotic competition. I'm pretty sure that we met them in our Boseies tour. They were an extraordinary they were extraordinary. I'm not surprised, but I I think it's a huge accomplishment. Obviously, he has many huge accomplishments. Very proud. >> And I reviewed the schedule you uh for this meeting and everything was in order. So, shall we vote? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Uh on to item 15 uh 15.01. All contracts and independent contract retainers. The board hereby approves items number 15.02 through 15.09. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich. Second, Trusty Jared. Any questions or comments? >> Yes. >> Thank you. I just have to always say

035it. Thank you to all the community mentors and especially hearing Dr. Salamini describe, you know, bringing the community in. Every time I read through here and I see new ones, I'm so grateful to them. It's so special. Thank you for that comment. Yes, we are all very grateful. Any other questions or comments? All right. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. On to policies. Item 16.01, first reading of policy 1611, procedure for the annual district election. Uh, item 16.02, first reading of policy 7621, rights of students with disabilities under section 504. Item 16.03, 03 first reading of policy 8130 non-discrimination and equal opportunity uh 16.04 04 resend policy 8210 safety conditions and programs and policy 8220 career and technical occupational education. The Boseies uh I'm sorry the board of education hereby rescends policies 8210 and

0368220 policies are considered non-essential per NISBA. And I just want to state for uh folks who may be watching and our our members in the audience that uh the first reading of the policies is an opportunity for the board trustees to thoroughly read the policy that has already been reviewed and edited and revised by the policy committee uh who meets monthly. May I have a first trusty Jared? Second. Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? All in favor. That's unanimous. Thank you. Committee reports. I think we may run into spring break syndrome here again, but we had we had communicate. Yes. Okay. Uh Okay. So, while Cindy's pulling up her policy com uh committee notes, I will speak. We did have a communications committee meeting a couple days ago. And um I will just say we

037are gearing up for the um this is an important newsletter that's going to go out at the end of April to everybody in the district, the budget newsletter. Um and uh we're working on um a more comprehensive visual way to communicate the way the budget breaks out. Um and uh so please watch your mailbox for that. It's um it's really gives we'll we hope will present the information in a very kind of understandable way. Uh yeah, I just took a few notes because it was it was kind of a information-packed meeting. Uh because the board briefs, which is what we typically speak about in our communications committee meetings, are is basically focused on the budget vote and the and uh board elections. But um Holly did inform us that uh board briefs are now going

038out on Parent Square and community members can still access the board briefs online. Um she is going to be making special communication about all aspects of the budget and the board vote. Uh and um oh this uh talked about the um getting information from our high school principal Edelman about the uh unembargoed data for our fast facts which we're looking forward to. And um the elementary principles are going to communicate with parents that the board briefs are now coming out on uh parent square so all the parents know and get it from a a trusted source. I think that's about it for now. In general, we really, one of our goals is to get more community members um to sign up for board briefs because um it's they're really pretty um succinct and but they

039pack a lot of information in and it's a good way to keep a breast of what's going on in the district and I think we've gotten it up I think to 112 community members are subscribed but we've hit a plateau. So community um there there will be um I think QR codes and um web addresses that you can sign up and it's it's not it's like once a month. It's not bombarding your email box, but it's really is a good way to stay in touch with the district. >> And and that 112 uh folks that are receiving the board briefs via email are are folks from the community who are requesting to receive the board briefs. uh because all of our parents and uh people that are are you know uh our our staff and

040our teachers and everyone they're already receiving them uh just like like the board is even if like I don't have a child in school but I'm receiving them. Um I think the other the only other thing that I wanted to mention that we learned in um the communications meeting was uh Holly's team is tracking um uh how many people are are tuning in, you know, and in what way they're tuning in. So people that are watching the YouTube um uh the live YouTube or watching it later of our board meetings or how many people are utilizing our Facebook or you know liking or sharing uh on Instagram, Facebook uh I can't remember what other platforms we discussed but it's pretty remarkable how many people are tuning in and it's really really I think it's very

041good news and Uh, I think she's been taking a look at that information for several months now and it grows each month, which I think is very good news. All right, enough about communications. Oh, questions or do you have a question? Uh, Trusty Goodrich or >> Yeah, I had a question. Uh, so for the communications just to I'll put you on the spot here. So, when's the earliest you can apply for a mail-in ballot? That I think that was in the communications. >> 30 days before the vote. >> Sorry, what was that? >> 30 days before the vote. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Of course. Uh thank you all for all the really super duper hard work you do. And um the last time we had a board meeting, superintendent sent an

042overview of the board meeting on parent square that I thought was so phenomenal. It was just a great way to see that information and a great way to see superintendent like connecting directly with the parents. Is that something that might be a repeat thing? Sorry. I'm honestly sort of trying to find my way this year because it used to be that I really led that communication about what was happening at the board level, but the board has stepped in and really taken control of their own narrative this year. So, uh, last meeting for some reason felt different to me, but I it's going to be that we need to strike a balance between what the board communicates about their work and what I can communicate about how it intersects with the district work. But thank

043you. I appreciate that. I think that um in a month like this certainly and and over the past several board meetings as we get closer to the budget vote um you know we get those amazing budget presentations and so we are kind of hyperfocused on the budget and and the and the the process. So there's a lot more that goes on in the board meetings than that and especially this month the you know the board brief is going to be dedicated pretty much to the uh budget and uh board candidates. Yeah. So your your report would be really valuable again. Um okay any other committee reports? Trusty Mitchell Morurell. The facilities committee met at the high school. Um we went over some of the summer projects, the maintenance for other projects. We talked about the

044central campus capital improvements, the building condition survey, and we walked all around. The basement looked amazing. I think they did something with that. Yeah. and um it was fun to learn about everything that's being improved and renovated and very exciting. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Trusty Jared. >> Our uh academic ad hoc committee met for the second time. We had just a great conversation asking a lot of questions about some of the awesome things that happen in our district. And another thing that came up was uh Trusty Goodrich like asking a question and discovering that something he thought was amazing that was happening in a different district is already happening in our district and has been for a long time. Surprise. And so we encourage um Assistant Superintendent Laughen to share out on that. But,

045you know, I do I know we will probably talk about the committee conversation, the committee makeup conversation later perhaps, but I I do want to say that um something that came up in that meeting was that it's only been twice, but we have really good conversations because we ask questions about things like portrait of a graduate and we get to really hear our fabulous assistant superintendent really explain to us some things and you know it is true that uh it would be great for everybody on the board to hear those things. And so I think that my initial idea behind that committee was because there was a lot of important work going on on the board as I was watching for years before I ran and the year that I came on and I felt

046like there's no way that we can talk about academics in here with everything. we need like an extra space. But amazingly, I feel like there's just this whole channel is just opened up on this board of like really deep discussion about all kinds of really important things. And I do feel like since that's kind of the trajectory, it does feel like those conversations maybe shouldn't be siloed out into a separate place, like they don't need to be. So that's just my own personal feeling about that after our last meeting. >> Amanda, is it appropriate for me to ask the other um members of that committee how they feel about that? It is like I mean it's or should we wait till unfinished business or new business? >> Not really sure. Superintendent McLaren, do you want

047to weigh in? All right, I'll wait. I think it's appropriate currently. I don't know why not. >> You're in committee reports. So that is a report from the committee. It >> all right. If I mean I don't want to put you on the spot, but um how do you feel about what uh Trusty Jared said about the academic ad hoc committee? Um the just the part about um you know it's possible possibly we don't need the committee because it's really um probably more valuable to the board to have those conversations with the full board in public. >> Right. That's what we discussed and I'm fine with that. I don't know. >> Yeah. I mean, we um I think it's good to have the the committee because, you know, we we had good conversations. We talked

048about, you know, we had a reduction in, you know, student enrollment and how is that going to affect the electives and things like that and uh I don't know, do we need to discuss that as a full board rather than in committee? It's it's a good question. I guess I I try to use a specific issue there that try to focus on you know what we're doing. So I think one question that I had um because I did audit the meeting and which was really hard for me to sit there for an hour and keep my mouth shut and sit away from the table. But um my question coming out of there was what is the what is the purpose of the committee or what is the goal of the committee and especially because it's

049an ad hoc committee which is really a very um like goal- driven you know um decision-making designation you know ad hoc means we got to get to the bottom of this so um I don't know if there's if there if there's a reason to make that a committee or if we should, you know, bring the AC the academic conversation more to the board table. >> So the only reason I can think of to really make it a committee is yeah, if we had a goal, but also we can invite um a few members of the community to be part of that committee, right? So we could get more outside input. That may be another reason to have the committee. >> I agree with what Trusty Goodrich was saying about there are really good conversations and

050you know I wonder how that how those conversations could occur. You know, I'm just thinking in this larger board setting and I'm kind of wondering if maybe it might take us to something else that probably doesn't belong here but belongs in new business which is in our retreat the facilitator had raised the idea of um rotating trustees into agenda setting. So, I'm I'm wondering if maybe that might help um facilitate, you know, some of these academic conversations kind of landing with all the board members because something that happens in the committee that's really interesting is that Clark asks some questions, Emily asks some questions, I ask some questions, and we're all really different asking from different directions. And sometimes that flushes out cool things that, you know, we I might not have thought to ask,

051but Clark did. So, I'm just trying to think about how we could retain that as seven, you know. Um, so yeah, I'm just thinking out loud. I don't know. I think in general because our meetings are so long, it is kind of helpful to process some things outside of the meetings in committees and then come back and like kind of summarize it. I mean, I just think timing wise that does make sense. And just also just like talking forever about stuff can sometimes be done in a smaller group outside of the meeting. So I mean I do see the merit in that. Like for example with like edtech which is like all I talk about now if we've all read an article and we all want to talk about it the committee and then we

052talk about it and we realize this we can just bring what we realized. We don't have to all talk about everything every time. Well we don't have to make a decision tonight. Um, I think we should all think about what would be if if if we're going to go forward with the committee, what is the purpose of the committee? Um, and then should it be an ad hoc committee? Um, so maybe we can talk about that more like at the next meeting. Even if you don't have a committee report, we can we can have a it'll be a committee report because we're talking about the committee, not about what the committee did. Okay. All right. Good. Any other committee reports this time? I think I missed it, but there was a health and wellness committee

053meeting, wasn't there? Okay. Yeah, I wasn't there either. Right. I mean, that's basically what it is, I guess. >> Well, yeah, policy committee met, but there's really no there's, you know, we just plow through policies. Yeah. Nothing exciting, but we but we are rescending policies that are no longer needed because they're either covered in other policies or they're antiquated. Um, you know, so that's good. Like trying to pair down that manual a little bit bit by bit, right? All right. Um, what unfinished business do we have or Yes, unfinished business. >> I think this is where our discussion of the Brookings report was scheduled to be. So, uh, for anybody watching, just to quickly clue you into what we're talking about, the the, um, Brookings Institution, which is a think tank, did a year-long sort

054of survey study of AI and education in, I think, 50 countries for a year and um, published a report in January of this year. Uh, and it has some uh ideas about um how uh districts and families and education leaders should um be trying to prepare our students, our communities for this sort of massive um transformation of a lot of life that's going on now due to sort of the permeation of AI into everything and we talked last time we're focusing so what we read for this week was a brief five pages that sort of lays out um you know uh I think chat GPT was released to the public in the fall of 2022 something like that and sort of how we've gotten from that event to where we are now and um what's

055going on um and then um it lays out a whole bunch of ways that AI can benefit education, can be a useful tool, uh to teachers, to students, um can make certain processes u more, you know, quicker. Um and then there's a whole second section where it's talks about the risks and we decided as a board that since the the benefits are more for are more directed toward educators like this is how you can use these tools um and we had decided as a board that our our outreach was going to try to be to more to parents and the community to understand some of the risks. So, just in case it seems like we're focusing only on the the negative side of this, um it's not that there's no positive side to it. Not

056even that Brooks Brookings doesn't even say that there's no positive side to this, but we felt um that uh it's important for our community to sort of we as a community to start wrapping our arms around. Um so, I I just highlighted a couple of sections in this opening section. um that I thought it would be important. I'll I'll start with that and then I'll turn it over to everybody else. Um on page uh 28 there's a there's a section AI is ever more ubiquitous embedded in search results, social media feeds, video games, and even toys. This reality places families, parents, and community organizations on the front line alongside teachers and school leaders as essential figures helping guide students toward effective and ethical AI use. So I that jumped out at me because I do

057think um that that if we are going to guide our students well through these um changing waters that it's going to be a group effort um of everybody in the community. Um, another thing I highlighted on the next page, if you see there's a chart about children's use of AI around the world and uh, okay, so like for example, South Korea, ages 13 to 19, 95% of respondents have used chat GBT. In the United States, 13 to seven year olds, 91% of respondents use generative AI in their personal life. um which is an astounding statistic considering it's three and a half year old technology at this point, right? Um and then the last couple things I highlighted was one of the main insights from our study was that the limited awareness parents and caregivers possess

058concerning the range of benefits and risks that AI poses to their children's learning and development. So again that's why we are sort of engaging on this outreach to the community of trying to raise these issues um just to really uh increase awareness um and the last thing uh I don't know if I need to read this but there that there is a complex interplay between AI benefits and risks on children's learning and development and that will require that we engage families as active partners with teachers in schools. And of course that's true. I mean that's been true forever, right? That that kids do better in school when when families and caregivers are partners in the process. Um but um in the in this particular situation, I think it's really extra important. So um I wonder

059if anybody else had any reactions learned uh to the introduction. If not, we can just dive right into the next section. Yeah, I had some of the same highlights that you you did. Um just a couple more uh students in our uh support report using AI through general purpose uh language models, social media, internet search, video games, video games, education technology, often moving fluidly between these platforms. And one example I thought was really interesting, some students strategically upload class notes to Google notebook language model and have it create flashc cards to help with test preparation. And they do this while they're binge watching humorous YouTube videos. So those are some of the things that your kids may be doing that parents have no idea. I mean, I didn't know you could do that. So >>

060when I asked uh my 13-year-old like do you like 91% of kids in your age bracket are using this for personal reasons and he was like well it's in Snapchat which he's not allowed to have by the way but he he said they just put it in Snapchat so then all the kids are in Snapchats you just literally upload your math homework into Snapchat like so I think they don't even perceive like the way that the percentages are seem huge. And I would ask him in his first feeling in multiple different places would be like no. And he'd be like, "Well, I guess if you count the AI that's in Snapchat, you know, or like the AI that's in fill in the blank of any others." So, what's interesting to me about that is that

061later on I highlighted it where it is, but uh it states that that kids a lot of the time don't even realize that they are engaging with AI because it's so seamlessly like showing up in toys and all these different places. They don't see it as I'm using AI. So, thought it was interesting. They don't realize it because it's really all they know, you know? I mean, it's just a helper or uh or, you know, I mean, some I mean, obviously some older kids do know what they're using and why they're using it, but I think that younger children really don't know the the power of it. Emily, >> I was gonna say I was like, "Oh, I never use AI, but I use Google, so I do use AI." Like, it's like it's literally

062unavoidable as the internet once was un, you know, like once we were like, "Oh, we don't really use that." But then you're like, "Well, now I can't help it." And it's so similar. It's like the same thing. >> Yeah. I find that when I I mean even reading this report or um I've I've been working on uh another presentation that I'm involved in coming up next week and you know coming across words I'm constantly googling words you're like what does that mean you know I mean I don't it's and it's just it is AI but I just get getting back to the specific report the percentages on that table really shocked me. I mean, that was sort of like wow for me. Um, and yeah, I don't know how do we how do we claw

063that back? So, just to I just want to like step back a bit. I one thing I really liked about the way they structured this is it's the idea is not to judge. It's not to say this is a weakness or or that um children are are behaving in a bad way really um they they sort of zoom back a bit and say look as human beings. So the first section of the wrist section is about cognitive offloading, right? Which is um when you take a task that your brain used to do and take that assign that task to a machine. Um I mean a really good example, how many of us we're we're all older here. How many of us used to memorize phone numbers of our friends, right? And so, but that that's

064a shortcut that I think we all agree maybe our brains have better uses than memorizing phone numbers. Um, but um so we are evolutionarily like shortcuts can be just a better way of doing something or a more efficient way of doing something. What's very tricky about this is that there are certain aspects especially for kids who are teenagers developing their cognitive abilities is kind of needs to be frictionfilled and with with some struggle in it right and AI can sand out all the struggle. Um, and what here's one thing that really struck me was um, so this this is the single biggest of the people they surveyed that their single biggest worry was cognitive development. Like if if we allow machines to do our thinking for us, then we won't be as good at thinking.

065That's a very simple way of phrasing it. But what struck me was who's concerned about this the most? And so 40 um 46% of parents are worried about this. 44% of teachers are worried about this. 65% of students are worried about this. So the people who are most worried about the effect on students cognitive abilities are students. This is on page uh 56 on the left column. Um so there's really it's a very laidout argument in here about you know um what happens to your your cognitive muscles, we'll call it, or um when you don't work them out, you know. Um, and uh, I just think that uh, this now people have been talking about, it's true, people have been talking about this since Google came out, right? That Google was going to completely ruin

066our ability to think, but I do think this is another level. Um, so I wonder, uh, does anybody else have anything to say about the cognitive offloading section? Yeah. So on right there in the big blue box on let's see page number 55. So as Dana I'm not going to pronounce it. professor of University of Chicago reminds us relationships maps laid down early in have implications on how you interact with other humans for the rest of your life. So the way we learn this stuff early on really does change the way we interact with humans later on. Uh experts in the study are particularly concerned about vulnerable children with limited access to quality and the temptations to use AI as a substitute for human interaction. So those are some of the other issues. Oh, yeah.

067I was gonna say, okay, just like how when you learn a language when you're like six, you're so much more of a sponge and you can like get it so much easier when you're learning how to learn, which I think really happens pretty much into college. Um, you know, if you're taking more of the passive passenger approach that they talk about, it's just like so hard to break that once you commit to it kind of. And it it's learning can be like annoying and hard and as you say have friction and that's the whole point and that's how it works but I see the temptation but it's also like this is the window where it's like all happening and it's like you know the spongeness that can be so positive with learning can be the

068opposite when you're learning how to learn and taking such a passive role >> the cognitive offloading also resonated for me and the section on page 57 where it talks about typing eliminating the need for handwriting and calculators diminishing the requirements for mental arithmetic and I just I feel like it's the same with AI it's just a simplified version of that and I you know I remember in second grade having to stand and recite my times tables and you didn't get a calculator but because of that basic understanding of math math. I can use a calculator now or I can use a spreadsheet now and I can understand if there's a formula that's wrong because you can recognize that the basic math is not actually correct. You can spot those errors and then figure out where

069you've gone wrong because you have that basic understanding of what it really should be. You can look at that and think, "Oh, well, like Monica did with the presentation tonight. Oh well, that doesn't make sense. That number is wrong. I can see that." because you have an understanding of the underlying um arithmetic. One part that really uh got me was this uh in the middle of the first column on 57. Uh cognitive development requires effortful processing, mistake making and problem solving that AI too easily circumvents and that many students are willing to bypass. Used liberally, AI is not a cognitive partner. It is a cognitive surrogate. It does not accelerate children's cognitive development. It diminishes it. And you know, I mean, I know that that's what everybody's saying and and that's uh you know, the

070whole and the like the nickname um for the term the great unwiring. It's really scary, you know, because like Emily said, you have to learn how to learn. And if we're allowing um a device to do our work for us, we're really not going to learn how to learn and our cognitive skills will decline. And on the next page, they say that research reveals a strong positive correlation between excessive AI tool use and cognitive offloading with younger participants who relied heavily on AI tools scoring lower on critical thinking skills than older counterparts. And that's really what this is all about, right? we um is critical thinking skills because um you do not want your students accepting whatever an AI may tell them uncritically, right? Because not not only because AI is, you know, the uh

071I heard a podcast with authors of the studio and they just of the of the study and they described AI as um frequently wrong but always sure of itself. Um uh but um that's the whole ball game to me is and so and I know there are teachers and I know Superintendent Laughing is listening saying, "Oh, yes, we know all this. Yes, we like I'm sure that what is going on in our building that um that our teachers know this um and would probably agree with everything that we that has been being said, but um uh the point is that this stuff is out in the wild, right? And so it's really it's it's to me it's no, you know, it's we're not trying to incite a panic here, but it's something that we really

072want or I really want parents to be um just see the whole picture um because it is it is something that is just as we have said hard to avoid. I'm not sure about the section or because it a lot of I mean there are some specifics but then I would say like the whole first part is kind of all of a one so I don't know if I'm jumping ahead. I wonder I'm wondering if maybe um Amanda could keep like a running document for us over the course of our discussions because I have some like questions. I think some things I wanted to flag from these first two sections that we could like refer easily back to after we hear more from the AI circle as we kind of try and merge our understanding

073with their understanding. Just some threads I didn't want us to lose from the the document as a whole. And I feel like as we move forward there it's a lot and I just I'm trying to imagine going back through and my little stars and everything. Is that something that it would be appropriate? >> Are you asking for a Google doc that we have access to and we can drop questions into? >> Could it be? Yeah, we could totally do that. I don't know if maybe like during our discussion. I guess we could just it'll go in the minutes and then we can all look back at the minutes and pull out any questions we had and add them in. >> Yeah, but I don't think they're that specific. write down uh the the minutes are

074for action items only, so discussions are included. Um it would be hard for me to note down your discussions in a Google doc since like there's so many different conversations and side conversations happening at the table. I can definitely create a a doc um where you can add your own information if you wish. >> I think that would be great. Maybe, you know, I we can backfill for this first one and then going forward we could, you know, add them as we're reading so that maybe we don't lose track of it if that's all right. Um, my big takeaway from this whole first section of the cognitive offloading and as the mother of two children that are literally like also in the middle of this in school, uh, was bizarrely really positive u because I

075am seeing many different rivers all from different directions all kind of heading in to the same place. It just I've learned so much from talking to Superintendent Laughen over the last year even and understanding her passion for projectbased learning and even in our academic committee hearing her explain really what this paper is saying which is it's really like do this here's the grade is really we know that's not the best way to educate children and I feel like a big takeway away I had from this was that the way of educating children that quid proquo as he calls it you give me this we give you a grade it's like very consumer you know that is going to be forced out in essence by the ability for us to farm that out and so it

076creates a really potent opportunity to lean into the more collaborative creative all the I just kept circling things in writing like goal, motivation, engagement over and over again. It's almost a treatise on everything that school goal schools exist precisely to build these capacities through sustained engagement with challenging material. goal. Professional adults with fully matured brains have already developed sophisticated metacognitive thinking so they can then use this like I feel like it makes me think of our mission and and uh our values you know something that we talked about I feel like if I zoom way up at the end of this I feel like and the end of the AI circle there's almost that opportunity to utilize this to say like what are we for and what does education need to be to send these

077kids out into the world with these important skills and how do we do that? And it's I feel like education's already kind of pushing that way because this isn't the best way to do it anyway, you know, to give them something they can put into a computer and hand in. I mean, it's not the best way. if you asked uh you know as superintendent laughing to offer us a presentation on best practices I guarantee you it wouldn't be on there you know so I think there's a lot of really great chunks in here that we should hold on to for our larger picture of what we want school to look like and I did have questions but I'm just going to pop them into the Google form Trusty Goodrich. >> Yeah. A couple things I

078wanted to mention. So I'm I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it. So So one is I I got out of this. I think a good exercise that all students should be required to do is just write with a piece of paper and pen, pencil, no computer. Turn it off. Write you know a page, two pages. Just those exercises I think are really important. Um because I I find personally I I do a lot of writing with a computer and it's different when you write it freehand. You know, it requires different cognitive thinking. And this talks about cognitive thinking and uh that pressure, you know, how important that is. And you got to learn to write without help. You got to use your own brain. And the other issue is um I

079talked about later on uh is uh trust. the whole trust issue and u that's a you know the teachers don't trust the student didn't use AI and the AI the the students got to trust the teacher and there's a lot of trust issues that go back and forth here that that are concerned so you can read that whole section but yeah that's that's a big issue I Yeah, I think that I I was going to suggest that we skip the the second part is sort of about um therapy and seal um which is an important aspect of it and certainly something parents should be aware of that that kids are turning to these things for friendship and companionship, vibe check, all those kind of things. But um but that that trust piece really resonated with

080me because I think trust is is an is a big issue in our soc like trust has been sort of intentionally eroded. We can you know we can leave out who has been doing it but I I I and and the and ironically these a lot of these tech companies that are behind these technologies have been at the forefront of eroding trust. Um, I wonder, Superintendent Laughen, if if that trust component is part of the survey you're about to do, whether that students feel that AI has eroded their trust in their teachers or that teachers feel that AI has eroded their trust in their students. >> The questions have not been put together yet, so I'm not sure. Okay, thanks. But it's to me it's a really interesting way and I hadn't really thought of

081it that way. Um, and I I do think it is a two-way two-way street. It's not just how do we stop students from, you know, generating an essay and turning it in. Um, that that's a very shallow um it really is, and we talked about this at the last meeting, that that trust between teachers and students is like fundamental to to education and um has to be protected. I I think the part on reading and writing, especially creative writing, really um sort of saddened me, you know, because the the offloading of of uh creative writing or, you know, just writing writing to um I guess to prove your knowledge, you know, to be and and how good it feels to be able to uh you know do well in writing and and be able to

082respond to an essay question or something like that. Um, there's a lot of pride in that and I wonder how plugging it into an AI system, whichever one, and handing that in as your product, you know, how does that feel? I I you know, I mean, I just I don't know. I I've found a love for writing really more in college than in high school. But um it felt really really great to get like an A+ back uh you know from a difficult challenging professor and be like wow you know but uh I went to college a long time ago. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean there's data in the study that says that the the students who used AI um their essays would come back a little more polished and they'd have a little more

083lexical variety um you know more fancy words, but that the ideas themselves were much more homogeneous and that the less you use AI, the more originality is in the product. Um and so um you can hear a theme of what we're what we're saying parents is that uh um the human brain um is still tops for for creativity and um Yeah. So, I I just want to say uh thank you for uh this exercise. It was it was good good read and yeah, really appreciate it. I just wanted to uh point out that I um I had read um a brief article maybe in the New York Times. I can't remember where I did and then I think Trusty Kenson kind of uh encouraged us to read the same article that I had just read

084but it is mentioned here. uh it's the uh MIT researcher that did the uh the study on uh 20-minute essay writing and uh the three the three groups um I I'm not going to read this whole section but um one group was was allowed to use just AI. Another group was allowed to use uh to write but then run it through AI and and you know and use whatever came out. And then the other group had to write their response by themselves, you know, with with no AI, no no devices or support. And it was really uh interesting to learn the outcome of how they all were able to express their answers later because really only the group who wrote their own response with no support or help understood what they wrote and the concept

085that they were writing about. they actually learned something and were able to write about it instead of letting AI do it for them and not learning the thing. Whatever it was, I can't remember. Yes. I also I'm trying to find the spot, but there's so many spots. But um I did really just want to say out loud just in case things go in a different direction somebody else remember I do think we should try and draft a resolution for NISPA for this coming year to try and encourage New York State to you know in in my conversations uh with our superintendent you know this and in this article you know this is big tech and they discuss it clearly in the article that like there's money to be made. You know, that's their agenda of

086why they keep pushing tech and AI into schools and in front of our kids, you know, and I do feel that it would be wonderful if we could write some really good resolutions around there being some kind of control mechanism around tech in schools in New York State. Like there, you know, there was an an instance where, you know, my daughter was like, "Oh, well, now when I open up my search browser, it says here's a the AI explanation right at the top and it says, "Want to go deeper with AI?" And when I mentioned it to superintendent, they were like, "Oh, that's new." And they just push it through there. our superintendent don't get and John Rhyr he they don't get an email this is the new thing that we're going to push through

087would you like to accept it or even how about this is coming now we want to let you know it's that to me is something that I think state government it is definitely in their purview to say like look here are all the children of New York state you don't get to just like serve whatever you want into the court and then everybody Everybody's scrambling to try and figure it out. So, I just wanted to say that out loud because I'm sure it won't be an easy thing to draft. So, I don't know if anyone saw this on TV today and I was just flipping through channels, but one of the um the big AI companies today um was speaking I don't know where he was speaking but speaking in front of a group of

088people about what um I think this is what it was about what the government needs to do to control AI in in this country. And so I'm sure I'm gonna I'll turn the news on when I get home to see if I can find it or just, you know, Google it, but um but I'm very interested to see what he had to say to hear what he had to say. I'd also be interested to see like the AI policies of colleges just like where you know eventually well it's just like from a admissions standpoint on essays for example like admissions is hyper sensitive and aware of using AI and it's like so first of all it just like shows one day you're going to have to not use AI and you like need to be

089ready for that moment but also I I mean, they are colleges are dealing with this on such a like larger scale that I'd be curious to see what their policies are and just how they're dealing with it in the classroom on a day-to-day basis. I mean, I I think they're confronting it. And I I just know somebody that I know, um I don't know the person who used AI to generate uh like a final essay for a course, but um it was obvious to the professor that um this wasn't the person's writing. And then when the professor confronted the person, the person denied it. And you know, they I mean obviously had a very serious conversation, but it it could have been the end of that person's uh career path in a very specific certification

090uh program. So I think that you know colleges and uh individual professors and and instructors are having very serious conversations with their students and I mean some of those conversations probably result in some life-changing results. So it is it's very serious but it would be interesting to know you know what their pol what their actual policies are. Maybe that'll be our next study. Trusty Goodrich, >> I thought this would apply during the timing here. So, um, astronaut Gordon Cooper, he's, uh, he's in a spaceship on Mercury Atlas 9, and he lost all computers, all guidance. He had nothing. And if he comes in the wrong angle, either skips out into the atmosphere or he burns up. He did all the calculations, looking out the window and lining up the stars. with a grease pencil and

091doing all the math and he came within four miles of the ships that were going to pick him up. And uh he didn't have any AI and he didn't have any Google. So So sometimes it comes in handy just having knowledge There's so much here. It's and it's all really great. And I guess I'm I'm kind of trying to understand how we're thinking about utilizing this information, you know, that we're reading. And one thing that I think is I keep I don't know. I just keep feeling this feeling of like stay way up high because I think maybe one way I'm seeing it is it'll allow us to be knowledgeable enough that when the AI circle shares what they've been working on which will obviously be at a way deeper level than we understand but

092we'll at least be able to you know interface with that in order to move towards policy you know like I think the the paper like Trusty Kud was saying like it kind of it jumps different terrain like there's some things that I'm like oh here's how we could commute communicate to families. There's other things that makes me be like, "Oh, I want to remind myself of this when we talk about AI policy or I want to know are we gonna have a AUP, you know, and um so yeah, I guess that's just a question that I have is how do you see us sort of utilizing this reading?" I was actually thinking today that it you know might be a good idea for us to um you know flag this conversation in our board briefs

093and actually tell our our readers where they can find this conversation on our YouTube video. um you know and because I I do feel like um you know we're a microcosm of the community. So our reactions whether we're really excited about things or really kind of scared about things or concerned will really resonate with our community. So, we have this document in the PDF format on our on our meeting agenda. Can we also somehow just link it so it's easily findable off our website or it's Amanda question? I guess or I guess >> it's linked to the it's linked in the agenda for anybody that's watching right now. If you look at if you look at the public agenda, there's a link to >> and it's um I'll just say the title can somebody wants

094to just look it up. It's a new direction for students in an AI world. Prosper, prepare, protect. And yeah, they the the authors describe it as not only a study but a call to action like that. They just think that PE leaders in in this space should just advance something in the next several years. And so I mean I definitely think parent awareness is something that the board can can do. You know, akin to um Dr. Salamini's, you know, bringing the guy in to talk about cyber bullying. Uh this could we could have a similar event that's more refined about you know schoolwork and um and what what what we think the best version of um an Ontario education and the way it the way that AI use is is ethically used and healthfully used

095um by students in outside of school, right? Um, that's something we could do. Um, yeah, I mean the policy part is is more complicated and is obviously we're going to need to hear more from our administrators and and the the pilot program and but um you know I feel like get getting the word out is was my first just because it's everything's moving so fast and um yeah I mean you know just to to uh to trusty Jared's point um Open AAI started as a nonprofit Right. And they they said, "We're not going to try to make money off this and we're just going to it's going to be for the good of the humanity." And they've changed their mind about that and gotten half a trillion dollars, I think, in capital and are going

096to try to monetize this at some point. They haven't really done it very much yet, but they are going, you know, those investors are going to want returns. So there will I think there will be an onslaught of trying and and the model of these large language models is not necessarily to edify the user. It's to keep the user coming back, right? So um it's the same it's the it's really the same playbook as social media, right? That which we've been talking about the problems with that um with our discussion of that. So um it's really just to as they say, prepare, prepare, protect, and then we can prosper. And I think knowledge is is just getting more knowledge in the community is is the best way to prepare right now in my opinion. >>

097Good summary. Thank you. Oh, for the next meeting, shall we just finish up this section, read the last three, and we can and if that's not enough to discuss, we can also if there's stuff we didn't cover in the section that we just covered. So that would be through and there is you know the it's talks about the next sections talks about things like equity and safety student safety and it runs through I think about page 118 >> and some of this some of this may not be some of it's fairly high level so you know we may be able to focus this in next week on just shorter sections that really are school district level kind of things. Everybody okay with that? 80 I think 89. Any other unfinished business? I I'm thinking that

098we should have at least a brief discussion. I know it's getting late, but at least uh open a discussion about the um folks who spoke tonight at public be heard and the um you know, our current student uh student safety res I'm I'm not sure if that's what student support uh resolution and then the URR resolution, the Soures resolution. Um I'm wondering if maybe we could all um agree to read those resolutions. Um, I did uh I did have a copy of the Socrates resolution that I kind of did compare point for point with our resolution. Um, you know, now we have a copy of the URR resolution. Um and just give some thought to um you know making decisions that you know if if we're going to do any changes to our resolution, make

099sure that they are legal, that they're legally defensible, that they are not um promises that we can't keep, you know, to our community, our students and their parents. um you know to and to be really mindful of our responsibility to as a school district to um you know remain within the boundaries of state education law you know New York state law um and all the other uh official um I don't know constraints before we, you know, make any decisions. And obviously I I even said this to some of the folks that I spoke to that um we never write a resolution based on um a whim. That if we draft a resolution, we always send it to our attorneys. they always um you know if if we've got anything in there that can't be legally

100defended they they will tell us and so and that would be I think the only way that we could proceed with considering adding anything to our current resolution. I don't know how anybody else feels about that. I think that's a great way of looking at it because I similarly, you know, I could read it and things could sound really good to me, but then I could discover that that's just out of our purview or it's just as the gentleman was saying, there's responsibility in multiple places, you know, and so maybe there's some things that are and some that aren't. So, what I was going to suggest is maybe could we have a day by when anybody who had any questions about um a part of this should have written them to the board so they

101could be shared with the attorney because the only thing that I don't think would be productive would be to discuss this in public in a meeting without context from the attorney beforehand because then I feel like we could get attached or get into certain ideas and then it's hard to then go backwards and be like oh actually no. So I'm just trying to think if maybe I don't want to put our attorneys, you know, on like oh and here it's the morning of the meeting and here here's the thing. Maybe if there's like an appropriate timeline and if we read these and ours and anybody says, "I really am curious about this part. This individual brought up bus drivers. Can you tell us more about this?" Then the attorney would have time to respond and

102we would have all had time to read it before we would discuss. So, we have two weeks before our next meeting. So, if everybody could review the resolutions this week and maybe get us any suggestions or thoughts or questions by the end of this week, we could get them to the attorney um by Monday of next week. And then by the by my update at the end of next week, I could provide their responses unless they came earlier so that there could be, as Trusty Jared said, preparation for a conversation. The only thing that doesn't, you know, that that will lay out some basic things, but I think actually one of the strengths of this board is conversation builds ideas. And so we may have a conversation based on the information we have and then

103the board may generate additional ideas. We may need to go back again. And I think the individuals that were here today are really um interested in a very tight timeline. We may not we may not be able to deliver on the timeline that they would like, but it might still be a productive exercise. But to that note, I just feel compelled to just say publicly that before the the individuals emailed us or came to public be heard tonight, uh, President Bishop had already, you know, brought up our resolution and and asked, you know, is this doing everything that we can do as a district to keep our students safe? And the answer that we all got was yes. you know, so I just wouldn't want anybody to have the impression that we don't I think,

104you know, I personally feel after reading our attorney's response and after our all of our discussions about this, not in public, uh, that I feel very comfortable with the safety of all the children on our campus. So what we're discussing is if there's any other thing that we can even add because what we have right now our attorney says is comprehensive to what we can legally do. So I just wouldn't want this conversation to end and anybody have the impression that we're like we don't think we can stick to a timeline about like we don't feel time pressure on this because we've had something in place since 2017 that was amended in 2025. So in a way I feel like we're often ahead of the curve and I feel like I wasn't on the board

105so I can't take any credit. The board was totally ahead of the curve on this. So I you know we are in a very our kids are very safe as it is as we discuss this. >> Yeah. I mean I similarly wanted to say like it's just important to note that we're all on the same side. like this isn't one of those things where like we want this and you want this and like you know our own president was such an OG immigrant supporter like I mean I just think we're like you know the shining example in a way not to brag but I also think you know the soies the way that so did it appeals to me in that well like first of all I say I also trust ur like I think

106just as we like outsource architecture and other things this is something they're experts on I trust that they're have everyone's best interest in mind and probably have also talked to lawyers. But I think if we can come up with something that combines the things that are most important to them with our current resolution and something we're comfortable with legally, that sounds harder than it is. I think that won't be that hard is probably adding a few sentences on either end and just making and also I was thinking our lawyer like said where the like issues may come up, but maybe they could also suggest language that would avoid that. just like a couple sentences like if you add this, you know, like really kind of have them do the work for us, you know, send

107them, they already have this, but um yeah, so I just think the soy's way of doing it makes sense where we just combine what we have with what the lawyers want with what URR wants. And I actually don't think it would be that hard. I just wanted to say that URR stands for Olster Rapid Response for anyone at home who doesn't know what we're talking about. Trusty Goodrich. >> So, one of the thoughts that I had here is while listening during the public be heard, first of all, I sympathize with all the people that were talking tonight. Um, they had some really good points that I hadn't thought about and one of them was uh the whole idea of unity between the different school districts. Well, that's interesting. So, I wondered if our legal counsel

108ever talks to the legal counsel from other schools because you know whatever we do here we have to have the backing of legal counsel and the superintendent they have to work as a team if non-local law enforcement shows up they're going to be working together to figure out what action they're going to take. So, we do need to have our legal council on board and the superintendent on board. And if we want to be unified with other schools, then I think we need to have those lawyers, those legal counsels from different schools talk to each other. if we want to try to come up with something that's unified. >> Our legal council actually represents four or five of the districts in Olter County. Um, but I'm not sure, you know, every district has a different

109level of interaction with their attorney. So, I can't speak to what districts rely on the attorney for things like these resolutions and they can only insert themselves if they're requested. So, I just have been have some ideas bouncing around my head that I just wanted to articulate. Um, I think, um, I just want to just give some of my reactions to the Kingston to this document that was put before us tonight. Um, and I just want to reiterate just some of the guiding principles that that are I'm trying to be informed by by thinking of how we can move forward. And Trusty Bishop already mentioned a really important one which is that whatever we commit to in writing or we we state as our intention in a resolution is something that we actually can do

110and that we not that that we not promise um you know a bigger let's call it umbrella of safety than we can actually provide. Um another piece of this It's not just our students that we're protecting, but as our bus driver u you know said tonight, it's our it's our employees and our um we have to make sure that we don't put requirements on our employees that could put them in legal jeopardy. Um and that's that's a a serious concern. Um or physical jeopardy. Yeah. Um um but I do think what what came through to me in the brief conversation I had with some of the folks who are here tonight was that in our um our original or our amended resolution from last year, um there are values that are inherent in that resolution,

111but they aren't necessarily that often explicitly stated. Um and um committed, you know, like expressing a value is different. So one of the one of my reservations about this is it says early on it says this is not a comprehensive policy or an operational plan but then if you read the whole next section it's feels very much like ve of super specific operational plan and I am I I'll just say I'm skeptical of putting an operational plan into a resolution. And I think that's, you know, that that should um be on our administrators and our safety committee. And um so I I I'm not saying I couldn't support it, but I am my mindset is that I'm skeptical of of the more prescriptive um aspects of this. Um but I do think stating our values

112is valuable. Um, and so I wonder if there's a way to sort of or I'm going to look for ways to enumerate, you know, if you if you see if you read the previous resolution, it sort of says, you know, we're not going to let anybody in unless they have a judicial warrant. We don't, you know, we don't we're not going to give any information. We're we're protecting our students. And but it never says that because we are we believe it is paramount to protect the constitutional and civil rights of our students. like we don't go that far and I I don't think there's any reason we can't go that far. Um, so th that that's that's uh those those are my guiding principles is that we we do as much as we can make

113sure we're not promising to do more and that um everybody in our community, you know, sort of understands um what those commitments are. Um, I did I don't I I'm going to have an RFI of that, but I'll wait till the RFI section. >> Any other comments about this right now? So, this will be added as an agenda item for discussion next time or let's see how far we get with the lawyers. Yeah. Um, yeah, we'll see. Oops. any other uh unfinished business or any new business request for information. So, our bus drivers um uh public be heard tonight. just um so my understanding is that um school property includes our buses, includes our school events, this whole build, all our buildings. So, I guess my RFI is I was surprised to hear that that

114he this gentleman felt like he hadn't been trained um or hadn't received guidance from transportation um on what to do or where the where the limits of now. Um so, I'm just wondering I wonder if we could get some sort of um report on what you know who who's been briefed or like what training has been given to the staff on the the actual legal penumbra of of our campus, our buses. Um, and you know, just to make sure that um because that is true that um uh our people have to know you know where where the where the borders are here. uh resource officers, building principles. Yeah, I think that's a great RFI and just I've been on the safety committee for two years now. One year as a parent and one year as

115a trustee and you know it resonated what you said earlier about adding looks like operations outside of the container that that happens because our district has such a incredible like safety response plan and like everybody is trained in what happens in a million different scenarios. Um, and that's why I read in our resolution that you know the that law enforcement is law enforcement is sort of like I don't think there's anybody within our building that doesn't isn't clear on all of the different scenarios and who does what. I think it's an interesting question about first student being contractors, you know, and maybe they need some of the support perhaps. But I also I don't know that might be a legal question because I don't know they're not directly our employees either. I wonder about that.

116Any other requests for information? All right. May I have a motion to adjourn? Jesse Smith, second. Trusty Goodrich and Trusty Mitchell Morell. Any questions or comments? All right. Our next meeting is April 21st. We'll be at the Woodstock Elementary School at 6 PM. All in favor of ajouring. That's unanimous. Thank you.