001Good evening everyone and welcome to the March 5th, 2026 meeting of the Ontario Board of Education. We have a tobacco policy in place. There's no smoking within 100 ft of any school building. Please rise for the pledge. District clerk, will you please call roll? >> Trusty Smith >> here. >> Trusty Jared >> here. >> Trusty Mitchell Morell >> here. >> Trusty Jerome. >> Trusty Goodrich >> here. >> Trusty Ken >> here. >> Trusty Bishop >> here. >> Thank you. We'll start off with our welcome uh our Woodstock School Principal Scott Richards will welcome the board. I think last time I was here I got a standing ovation. So that that's not quite not quite as good. Thank you. That's two. All right. Um so my my update tonight's going to be fairly short. Um, I
002was hoping to actually have some of my fifth graders here this evening. Uh, last time, uh, I was here, I shared with you the news program that we were working on. Uh, we've made some adjustments to that news program. Uh, the fifth graders are taking the entire project over, meaning video editing, recording, green screen, everything. And they've been using a program that's utilized in the middle school and high school. and we've had so many kids interested in being a part of it that we're now running that group in sessions. So, the idea is get everybody through those sessions and then we'll have our finished project at the end. Um, it's been run by Carly Denter. She's a fifth grade ELA teacher and with help from our technology specialists from Boseies as well. Um, the the
003kids have really been enjoying it. So, I'll be excited to hopefully bring them to the next meeting. Um, this week is ReadAcross America week. Our reading teachers have been doing a phenomenal job putting together activities all week. Um, I did bring a coloring book that they made in which they included all of the students favorite K through two teachers as well as their favorite principal as well. And I just thought I'd pass that around and you could take a look at it. Um, the kids are really into it. Uh, I'm holding a book that's called um that's titled Don't Trust Fish. It's an excellent book. Um, but all the kids are walking up to me, don't trust fish. Don't trust fish. I'm like, I know. I get it. So, it's been good. Let me pass
004this around. Um, and then just kind of talk a little bit about fifth grade transition. uh some of the things that are going on. Um the Bennett fifth grade teachers invited our fifth grade teachers and fifth grade students to their end of the year field trip. Um and we've been working on the date and getting transportation ready. So our fifth graders will attend at Davis Park um with their friends over at Bennett, which is really exciting, something that we have never done in the past. Um so we're looking forward to it. And then we're also working on arranging the trip to the middle school. And the hope is that we have both the Bennett and the Woodstock students attending on the same day again so they can get another opportunity to meet with one another
005um and get to experience the middle school together. Uh PTA is has also been talking a little bit about consolidation. We're we're still two and a half years away, which feels like a long time, but it's not really. So, they're starting to have a lot of conversations with their counterparts over at Bennett about some different transition activities, things that we can maybe do within the school buildings, um, and also some ideas that we could possibly do out in the community. So, hopefully as as time goes on, we'll have a little more information for you about that. Um, also kind of part of the consolidation, um, is the discussion about an after care program for students and a before school program for students. Um, it's weird. I've been getting emails recently about this and I'm like,
006well, that's great because I've been working on it. Um, preandemic, we had a program that allowed kids to come to school early and allowed them to stay late. Um, we partnered with Healthy Kids and one of the the things that made it really successful is that we had a person who worked for the elementary school who actually staffed the program, ran the program, knew the kids, and it worked really, really, really well. Um, I've done those programs in the past. When you have 18 year olds and 17 year olds as the supervisors of children, it does not work well. Um, as you hear in the hallway. Um, so last year I had a parent uh that that I I've known through the PTA approach me about possibly getting that program up and going again. And
007this is a parent that I trust and I've known for a number of years. We started setting up meetings last year with Healthy Kids just to see if there was still interest from them in getting the program back up and running. They were very, very interested. Um, we've had two meetings with them so far. uh this year just talking about how we want to start and the idea is to really start small um start with it in this building um get the program set make sure we have because you can't just have one person run it you also need substitutes so if someone is sick and there's a lot of training you have to have the CPR training there's a lot of requirements in place so get all that stuff really solid um and then
008the following year grow it and then the hope and healthy kids is very interested in this is then when we consolidate then we move that program to Bennett as well and we make it a larger program for more kids um if needed. Um but from what I'm hearing it's it's quite quite a large need at this point. So I just want to give a quick update on that. Um but another consolidation and um project that we're working on had a parent reach out to me uh to create a keepsake for the Woodstock community. Um, and her idea, and I'm working with her, we're actually meeting uh tomorrow, is to basically put a book together with alumni memories, teacher and school employees, current and past reflections, student contributions, photos. We have a tremendous amount of photos
009here in this building. One from the original build, also from the uh when they put the addition on in the back. We also have the photos from uh Wonderworks and a whole bunch of other things. Plus, we've also partnered with the historical society over the last two years to do a lot of work about the history of the town. So, the idea is to also bring them in, get them involved as well. They do a really nice job with timelines and creating visual timelines. So, the hope would be to create the visual timeline also then include those items in the book. Um, so that's just an idea that's that's that's being kind of put together this year so we can start to push it out for next year. Um, I have two last things. Um,
010100 day celebration just passed and we have pictures of our kindergarteners up there. Um, celebrating the 100th day with their projects. And I wanted to put in a quick plug for our art show. Uh, this is for our fifth grade students and will be taking place at WHAM. Um, I'm gonna read to you uh just a quick paragraph that gives you a little bit of information. And John, do you want me to click through it? Oh, boy. Gonna read and click. This could be fun. I can't see that far. So, um, under the guidance of art teacher Danielle Payet, fifth grade students at Woodstock Elementary explored landscapes through the concept of the number three, discovering its endless possibilities. The project was inspired by Voam artist Alan Sealan who creates abstract tptic works. Students began their
011journey by creating several landscape drawings using only three types of lines. A curved line, a straight line, and a continuous contour line. They then selected three of their landscapes and used three different mediums to create the tptic, discovering along the way that three really is the magic number. and I asked her for a couple samples and I'm just gonna blast through those. Um, and I do have the date. I believe it's the 13th at 6 pm and then it will run for about two weeks as well. >> So, you've got some the different art that the students >> Mr. Richards. Yeah. in uh in our slideshow that we have in our agenda, it says that it's opening on the 14th 14th >> from 4 to 6. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> And then it
012runs the Oh, but it it says it runs the 13th through the 26th. >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. There we go. >> Uh so here's a little extra. They really do amazing work with Miss Pette. Um, and then tonight you'll hear some kids in the hallway. They're actually practicing for their PTA talent show, which is next week on Friday at 6 PM. Last plug and I'm done. >> Thank you so much. Any questions for Mr. Richards? Thank you so much as always. And it's so amazing that you've been working on the afterchool program and I've been engaging with some parents on social media around it as well. And of course, I'm wondering if maybe we can I'm sure you've already thought of this, but maybe if there's some way that we can include Bennett families
013by maybe providing one bus that takes Bennett kids to Woodstock or I'm just going to put it out there. You know, I'm sure that when or maybe Bennett could explore the same, but I'm sure that half the parents in the district will be super hoping to be able to have the same and not have to wait two and a half years to also have it. So, just a thought. Good. >> Yeah. I'm just curious the last time that after school that um was running, which was pre-COVID, you said, right? Was it generally like two questions. One, was it one cohort of kids in one classroom or was it multiple classrooms? And the other question was, was it the same kids every day Monday through Friday? Were kids coming in and out day by day? So,
014it was open So, it was open to K through three. So, we had kindergarteners in the morning program. We had third graders. It was all mixed. and we had anywhere from 15 to 20 students depending on the day. Some parents chose just to do the morning, some parents chose to do Monday, Thursday only. So there was a lot of flexibility within the program. Um and one of the things that has come out of I believe the pandemic and just some changes across the nation is there's more of a focus on afterchool care. So there's been more money put into it which then can be used for families that may not have the same means to pay for the program, making the program accessible to all students instead of just those that could afford it at
015the time. So that's a really exciting piece for me. And I I'm just curious about um staffing. You spoke about a parent that you trust and so is it staffed by one adult or is it staffed by a number of adults? >> So the number of adults will determine the size of the program. So if you start with one, there's a there's a set number of students that you can have. So we may still hear from people who go, "Oh, I wasn't able to get in." Yeah, that that could happen. But again, as you build it, the hope is then you build the staff. So the first year we did it, you know, if if the person was out, we shut it down. But by the time we got to like the third or fourth
016year of it, we had three or four substitutes who were going through all the trainings, getting all the CPR, doing that. So it's like it really depends on who's leading it. And if it's a parent, my hope then is they reach out to other parents and say, "Hey, you really want this program. Why don't you come on and and and help out?" Does Healthy Kids provide the training? >> Yes. Yep. It's all part of their program. They they really they're an in-house program. They're very easy to work with. Um they hire ultimately, but they work with the school district to make sure we're comfortable with the hiring, which I like that part because I've done it before where all of a sudden two 17-year-olds show up to run a after school program and Yeah. Not
017great. I'm just curious what were the hours specifically before and where was it in the building? >> Um, so I I will say it was mainly here because there is a snack that's part of the program. So we had to coordinate with the kitchen. Kitchen provided the snack. The students ate the snack here and then we basically gave them a room within the the building. They were able to use the gym. they were able to use other spaces, you know, throughout the building. Just as long as they let us know, then we can give the teachers the heads up that those spaces will be used. Um, and it was early. I mean, it it was surprisingly early, but I mean, I would even say it was like 7:00 and our kids are getting here at
0188:30, 8:40. Um, I think they even offer earlier, but I can't imagine an elementary student showing up for that type of day. and then possibly staying after school. I mean, that's that's a long day. Um, and I believe they were here until 6:30. Yeah. So, a lot depends on the person running the program and what their availability is as well. >> Any other questions or comments for Mr. Richards? >> Just one last one. Um, and in terms of the administration of so the would the parents pay something for the kids to be in the program and would they pay that to healthy kids or to the PTA or it was administered by healthy kids? >> Okay. So >> they were really transaction they handle the the rostering all of that training. It's really and it's
019in comparison to other programs that I've seen, they're really affordable um compared to what I paid for a YMCA program in my own home district. So, yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Right. On to item 3.01. May I have a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the tenure of specific employees OA negotiations and to consult with our legal counsel? Trusty Kusson first, Trusty Mitchell Morell second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Uh we should be back in 90 minutes or less. All right, we are back. May I have a motion to exit executive session and return to public session? Trusty Smith first. Trusty Goodrich second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 4.01 is acceptance of
020minutes. The board uh the board of education accepts the minutes from the February 12th, 2026 meeting. May I have a first? Trusty Jared. Second. Trusty Goodrich. Any questions or comments? All right. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. on to Superintendent District News. >> Good evening. Um, I think probably everybody is aware we have used all of our scheduled snow days. Uh, and an additional day that the New York State Education Department has already determined will be exempted. Um, so at this point, we are really hoping that we will be able to finish the year without any additional school closures. Uh, I've heard that it's going to be 70 soon. Uh we plan to have our school calendar um to all of our unions by the end of this week. We met with the teachers
021association this afternoon and shared it with them and then hopefully we can have it on our next agenda for approval. One of the things that we are contemplating um is decoupling the parent teacher conference structure between elementary and secondary for next year because we have heard from so many parents that when you have children at both grade levels it's really difficult to get to um those parent teacher conferences. So, we're looking to have the elementary be one week and actually the secondary is first and then the elementary um would be I think the following week so that um we can accomplish making it more convenient for parents to be at those grade levels. And so it would still be the same structure. So there would be conferences in the evening and then the next day,
022but it would just only apply to the elementary on the one and the secondary and the other. So even though our parents may be coming in uh to meet with secondary teachers and there would be no students in session at the secondary level on that day, elementary will still run as normal. And then the flip scenario the next week when it is time So, um, so we're hopeful that that will provide a little more flexibility and accessibility for our families. Um, and it looks like at this point that the calendar has six snow days um, with potentially an option for an additional one to be added. So, we'll see how that goes. um as is been a part of our conversation for a while now. We did more portrait of a graduate um discussion. So,
023Miss Laughen reviewed the New York State Portrait of a Graduate and the New York Inspires initiative with our PTA leadership during our meeting last week just to help spread awareness um because this is really a K12 um initiative and is going to affect all of our schools and all of our students. So, um we also offered that we would be happy to attend PTA meetings if they felt that this was something that the parents would like to hear more about. So, um sort of an open an open invitation for them to have us come and visit and share. U you know, it's become really clear to us during this process that um this really will include a significant amount of local design in order to meet the vision of the portrait of a graduate. the
024state is going to provide some of the some of the details and some of the backbone, but we really will have the opportunity to create much of this um here within our own district, which is really great. Athletics, uh our varsity boys and girls are both in sectional championship games at Mount St. Mary's tonight. Uh the boys have won, which is incredible. Congratulations. If you are watching this meeting and you want to use two different devices, you can actually live stream the games on another uh device. The girls are in their second quarter, I believe, although you will um you'll have to uh excuse me because I've asked for updates, so I will be checking my phone regularly. The girls were tied after the first period. Um so last night the boys and girls played
025at home and they both did a great job. They played well. They both won. our students and community came out to support them and uh I'm really grateful for that. They were exciting games to watch. In addition, um we also have a couple other athletes who are going to states. Liam Young is headed to states for swimming, having won the 200 meter freestyle and the 100 meter breaststroke in the section 9 championships. And Sadie Conjas will represent on at the indoor uh track state championships in shot put. Sadi along with Sam Navaro and Quinn Denter all competed at the indoor track sectional. So congratulations to all of these outstanding and hardworking athletes. Um yes, brief update on our capital project work because we wanted to um include just a whatever is new on each agenda.
026the architects and their design team uh will be meeting with representatives from our elementary faculty from both buildings to discuss the design of the rooms that are being created at um the central campus elementary school meetings will be scheduled are scheduled for March 11th and March 18th. So they're going to meet and gather input and then come back and make sure um what they heard and how it will be incorporated into the design. The basic layout of the building has been drafted and input was solicited from the principles. But now the individuals who will be working inside the buildings dayto-day are going to be brought into the process and also we will be having our playgrounds inspected soon which is an annual process that we follow. Um but we are going to be discussing with
027the vendor whether any of the existing structures um can be relocated and incorporated into the new playground area. And once we determine that then we can explore the process for designing the playground and work with the students because our previous playground playground builds were very much driven by student input. So this process will be similar because it was really fun to work with the kids and get their ideas and get their feedback on um the potential designs and the color schemes. They have so many great ideas. So that is really exciting and something to look forward to. And I believe Miss Claire um has a couple of things that she wants to talk about. So I'm going to hand the microphone over to her. Thank you so much. Um so rather than doing my normal
028um presentation, there really was not a lot excuse me there was not a lot of changes that really um required a full presentation. So just where we are now with the budget. Um the tax levy limit has been submitted to um the comproller in the amount of that 50,626,535 that I presented at the last meeting. Um we're still awaiting the final adoption of the New York State legislative budget to deter to determine whether or not we will receive additional foundation aid. Um that budget is due by March 31st. Um, we did receive news that the health insurance consortium is now projecting an increase closer to 12% rather than 16%. And that is because they are using fund balance that they have in reserve to help offset those those larger increases. And then after res reviewing
029the current budget, I've confirmed that we are able to pay off the remaining of the Bosey's debt in the current year and that will offset that 560 I think it was $560,000 um that was in was going to be slated for next year's budget. We'll pay that this year instead. So those were really the only changes. We are still um we're still looking at staffing. Um we have some retirees. We're looking at whether or not they need to be replaced. And of course, our special ed placements, we're still working through the cse. So, um I'm hoping to by the 17th have a um a budget that should be pretty close. Um I did want to also add though um I also sent everyone a little memo about our elevator project. Unfortunately, the bids for this
030project came in over budget um to the tune of about a million dollars. Um we went through Victoria, Kyle and I. Um so there were basically three parts to this project. It was the elevator that is currently not usable for um people unless we have a a staff member go with them. Um the middle school gym that we had to take out of this summer's I'm sorry, last summer's project because of the concrete that was underneath it. Um, and then the 28 hall ceiling that has some flaking and that's potentially asbestous. And Kyle, so Kyle really wants the hallway. I really wanted the elevator. Victoria really wanted the middle school floor. So in working with um uh schoolhouse construction, um we found a way we can do it all three. What it would um ostensibly
031mean is we would increase our budget by an additional million dollars in the transfer to capital line. So it would be a one-time increase the budget that line it would come out of appropriated fund balance. So it would not affect the tax levy or any other part of our our revenue. It would strictly be a one-time and we can use we would have the money because we would have the we would have the money that we received from the sale of the West Hurley school in addition to savings that we will that we normally see at the end of a school year. So, um I'm I'm moving ahead with doing that. Um I I believe it's the right thing to do as does the superintendent. Um, so you will see that at the uh when
032I do the next presentation as well, but I wanted to make sure you guys had that information. If there were any questions, concerns, um, please let me know. >> Any questions for assistant superintendent or superintendent? So, I just wanted to in case people haven't been following, um, the increase in the budget for the middle school gym floor is related to surprises that were found when they went to when they went took up the old floor last year and then they had to put it back because um, and so I I assume that a lot of that the increase that's related to that project is due to that. You are correct. And part of the other issue is because it is a relatively small project, um there are always additional costs, we could have waited and
033added it to the bigger project, but I think these were all too important to wait. I just have a quick question about the um uh PTA meetings where um administration will be um discussing the portrait of the of a graduate and I'm wondering if you'll also be willing to meet with secondary you know uh staff and parents and uh not necessarily staff but parents and you know there isn't a PTA at the secondary level. So, how will you address the portrait of graduate with those folks? >> Yeah, we can absolutely have a meeting. You know, we've offered to meet with the PTAs and share that information. We're leaving it uh up to them to invite us. Um but we can certainly try and find a day or space to just have a conversation with secondary
034parents. >> Thank you. That'd be great. Yeah. >> All right. Anything else? Any other questions? All right. Um, we are at uh board district news. Do any trustees have news to uh share with the board and the public? >> Just always here to shout out our music department. Spend a lot of time celebrating our music department, but it's worth celebrating. Um, the Ashoken was so gracious to invite our jazz bands back again this year for hot chocolate, which is something I know they look forward to every year and it was outstanding. The middle school and high school combined all over the place to play different songs was really, really wonderful. And um, speaking of states, we have a middle school student who is one of five percussionists in the state of New York going to
035um, all state middle school honors band this weekend. So, our tiny little district. Yay. Our amazing music department. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Um, just very cute here. Many times a week, everyone's practicing talent show. Kindergarten to fifth grade. The kindergarten and first grade are doing a joint performance because otherwise there'd be too many with all the grades. And that is next Friday. And it's the best. It's my favorite of the year. So if you want to come come. >> I just want to say I was to have hosted uh the second trivia bowl that I have uh done since I've been on the board and unfortunately it was a confluence of events where we had a lot of snow days that prevented a lot of trivia teams from coalesing and then the sectionals
036got moved to the same afternoon. So we didn't want to get in their way. So with consult with consultation with the students who had signed up um the the booster folks uh agreed that we it would be best not to have it yesterday um yesterday against the sectionals but to move it to the first week in June. So if you are a trivia fan, do not despair. We will have our trivia contest. We're we're looking at the first week in June, right after we um get back from um well in advance of of regions and finals, but um after the sports season, there's a little sweet spot there. So, we're going to try to get it in the first week in June. So, brush up on your trivia and please come join. It was so
037much fun last year and uh the more the marrier. >> Any other board district news? >> All right. Um on to 7.01 01 is acknowledging public be heard comments from the last meeting. We did not have any at the last meeting. Um we do have someone signed up for tonight. I'm just going to read the uh statement that we read uh every every time before public comment. Public and stu 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't engage in discussion or answer questions during public be heard. Please know that we hear you and we take all of your comments into consideration. The board does reserve
038the 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 by the rules for public conduct on school property as set forth in our 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 the polic under this policy. Any board member may
039request a brief recess of the meeting, which would which would serve as a cooling down period. The board president may order the removal of those persons who are a threat to the safety of others or who disrupt or the orderly conduct of the meeting. We understand community members are passionate about certain items. We all want our school board meetings to serve as an example to our students that members 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 the differing views of others. With all that being said, um, uh, we'd like to invite Amy Swuzo to speak. I hope I pronounced your
040name right. Just so the folks at home can hear you. >> All right. My name is Amy Sazo. Nice to meet everyone. Um my husband Joe and I currently have a child in the UPK program at First Steps. Um I had addressed the board and um Superintendent McLaren um with an email. So you kind of may have a little to what I'm going to speak about today. Um this come to our attention um we're new to the whole district being our daughter's in UPK that there is no before after care once our daughter um leaves the prek. I'm a teacher in a local district. Um my husband, you know, works full-time job. Um I started by kind of finding out for next year what like the timeline would look like for transportation and things. Getting
041our daughter on and off the bus does not correlate with our schedule. So I'm very concerned as a parent. Um and in speaking to other parents um at the uh UPK, we were not aware that there was not something already in place in the district. Um so um I'm just wondering I I've heard some things um you know, Superintendent McLaren had told me that there is something in the works that they're trying to re-implement here at Woodstock Elementary um that could help you know resolve this problem. for myself and other families in the district. Um I guess my concern moving forward um you know we're talking a unification of the schools. Um how does that you know if this program is here say for two years how does that help um traveling 20 minutes you
042know up to um Choke campa wherever and then 20 minutes back and then I have another 20 minutes you know commute to work you know this logistically is not um going to work you know if it's here that's great but there's nothing in the Woodstock area currently and that is a huge concern um for steps you know, has a program, but it's not for school age children. So, you know, looking at Woodland Playland, you know, they do have a before and after care program for school age children. Wondering why we can't have that or something here, you know, long term, not just a temporary solution and then we move things and that becomes a problem, you know, down the road. So, um, I've checked with many surrounding districts. They have programming for students within the
043schools. Um, I'm just wondering what has been explored, why it hasn't. I'm I'm new, so I I'm just looking for answers at this point to what we can do to help oursel and other families that are in my position. I need to work, you know, and provide for my family and so does my husband. So we need options and options within this community to help families. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to speak? All right. Does anyone on the board need a break? We have a break built in right now. Keep going. Okay. Here we go. All right. Item 10.01, uh, the discussion of polling location and voting hours for all future district votes. >> Sorry. Um so as we have been discussing, we would like to plan on being
044in compliance with the uh requirements and also for reasons of saving money, having expanded voting hours, um keeping our elementary students in their instructional day for the full day. So, we would uh move forward with voting in May at central office in the wrestling room as we did in December. Um we're not asking for a vote tonight. We can vote on it next week, but we wanted to make sure that we had um provided opportunity for all of the trustees to contemplate it and um give us some feedback and ask any questions that might be needed in order to make a decision. Do any trustees have questions? Yes, trust. >> So, I thought about this a little bit. You know, I grew up here in, you know, coming to this uh district in 1980. We
045had voting in West Hurley, Woodstock, Bennett, and Phoenicia. And uh so that was kind of convenient, you know. That's what we're used to, right? And um that was before we had mail and ballots and I did mail in ballots last year, me personally, and it was so easy. And um I also did some research and I see so went through the same process we went through. in 2024 they had four elementary buildings that they use for voting and um then they they had another vote in June at one location and then the next year they had their budget vote at one location. Uh I see Rondown has vote at one location or new island. So there's, you know, one location seems to work and given that we have the mail in ballots. Um, and it's
046it's cheaper to have one location. So that's the reason sovereignties went through one location as well. So one location seems seems to it worked well for us in December, I thought. And just to clarify, superintendent, we're talking about one location with the full expanded hours of 7 a.m. to 900 pm as opposed to the old hours which were 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. >> Correct. It is expanded hours and also um our district clerk has graciously um agreed and implemented a way to provide some in-person hours for people who want to do the mail and ballots in person prior to the vote. Um, and she will be at the Woodstock Library and then in the Phoenicia Library the date of May 16th, >> which is the Saturday before, I think. >> Um, you mean you
047would do the mailin ballot and hand it to Amanda at the library on the 16th? So, what we what we did last year or what we've have been doing, but it really um made a lot of sense last year for the December vote because people were concerned with the weather was that um a lot of the community members were coming to the district office filling out an application and then right there we were giving them their early ballot and they were filling it out, giving it back to me. Um so what we're doing now this year is going um to each end of the district. So in Woodstock for uh three hours from 9 to 12 they'll do the same thing. We'll bring um applications and ballots to fill out an application um then fill
048out the ballot and hand it back right there. Um same with the Phoenicia library just to make it more convenient um for those community members who don't want to travel to Boyceville on that Tuesday. >> But you could also do that in Boyceville too. >> Yeah, of course. Yep. >> On Monday and Tuesday or what are the days? Just >> a month prior to >> a month. Okay. >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to and just um I'm in favor of this as well. Um and um uh I think getting back a half day of school for all of our elementary students is a big benefit. And also not having an early pickup for working parents. um uh uh you know come into the school day having having that full day for our elementary kids
049will be a real boon and also I think we shouldn't gloss over the fact so I I confess I was a voter um before I ran for school board but then when I started running when I ran for school board and the following year I was keenly aware more keenly aware of how these votes went and and um both year so I ran in 2024 and then of course we had the May election last 2025. And um I was aware both years of problems, significant problems that arose from having um our uh staff who was running the election split between two places. The first year there were I know that there were people who showed up at Bennett to vote and they and they said, "Oh, well, you already voted because of there was some
050discrepancy." and Amanda can maybe tell what I I don't know what exactly happened there, but but anyway, a lot of those type of problems are eliminated if we can have the entire voting apparatus in one place in in the expanded hours. And I think that's that def that definitely that combined with mail-in ballots um really provides sort of a a a process that's going to run much more smoothly um than than what we've been doing. I just want to echo that I'm very much in favor of this and when I read that we should have been doing this I also reflected back and thought oh because it makes sense that if either you should have a polling place for all the different communities like Trusty Goodrich remembers or you should have one in the middle
051and I hear trusty Jerome you're here even though you're not here we are becoming one central campus and so this is you know all us bringing it all in to be more efficient and um I I'm fully in favor of this. >> So uh assistant superintendent said we had to update uh the policy and um so I looked at that and it looks like there's two areas. just one. The first sentence says the hours uh from 2 to 9. So that would have to be updated to be I guess 7 a.m. to 9. So that's an easy change. And uh we don't have anything in the policy about the mail-in ballots. So we probably should have something in there. We have a long thing in there about the absentee ballots, but we don't have anything
052about mailin ballots. So, we probably need to add that verbiage to the policy. >> We'll get on that in the policy committee. >> And I just want to add to that that we as a board should recognize that this is a transition for the community. It's things are going to be different than they have been in the past and it will surprise people. And so it's going to be incumbent on the board both to and we did a I think we did a very good job of this in December of really talking up and advertising the option of mail balloting and um you know I personally handd delivered a lot of um mail ballot applications all over the district um um and met with community members and showed them how you know showed them what
053they needed to do to get the ballot. Um, but I think that's a process that's going to have to continue for a couple of years, for the next few years until um, you know, change is hard. Um, and and learning how to adjust. I don't think it's it's there's nothing ownorous about this process. It's it's doable. Um, but it um, I I do feel like we have a responsibility as a board to continue educating the public on, you know, the all the options they have to vote. and um and I hope we do. Just want to say >> I also am 100% behind the single polling place uh for all the reasons that have already been stated. Um and I agree that it it will be a learning curve and um you know and we're
054we're very good at getting those messages out to the public. Um, we will vote on this at our next meeting. Okay. All right. On to item 11.01. The board hereby approves items number 11.02 through 11.08, which is our consent agenda. May I have a first? Chessie Jared. Second. Trusty Goodrich. Any questions or comments? Trusty Goodrich. >> I reviewed the uh special you and it's all it looks looks good. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you to even more amazing community mentors. And who gets to experience Hamlet? Middle. The middle school gets to experience Hamlet. How exciting. Yay. All right. Um, so we have a first, we have a second. We had our comments and questions. Any other comments or questions about the consent agenda? All in favor? Great. That's unanimous. Thank you. On
055to item 12.0. 1 approval of contracts and independent contract retainers. The board hereby approves items number 12.02 through 1210. May I have a first trusty maturel second trusty Smith any questions or comments? I just want to say how great it is that we're going to combine with round out so that our girls is it field hockey can have a field hockey team. That's lacrosse. That's why I said okay girls lacrosse team. Yay. It's just a great example I think of the future of how we can all work together. And I just want to appreciate both the districts for making that happen. I'm sure it's not as easy as having your own team for either. >> It's it's not as easy and and sometimes depending on um depending on how well populated the other district's team
056is, it doesn't always work for us. I know that we've had other situations, maybe with boys lacrosse that did not work because the home district doesn't want to necessarily cut their students to add ours, but where it does work, we are always happy to support it. And we have had positive um partnerships with multiple districts in our county. So, we do appreciate that they that they allow us to join them. So, it provides opportunity for our students. >> Any other questions or comments about our independent contract retainers and contracts? All right, we've had a first and a second. All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. On to policies. Um item 3 13.01, 01 second reading and adoption of policy 3435 culture climate and belonging. The Ontario Board of Education hereby adopts policy 3435 as written.
057May I have a first? Trusty Jared second. Trusty Mitch Morell. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 13.02, 02 second reading and adoption of policy free free meal services. The Entouer Board of Education hereby adopts policy 5659 as written. May I have a first? Trusty Smith. Second, Trusty Mitchell Morell. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Item 13.03. Second reading and adoption of policy charging meals and other food items. The board of educa the Ontario board of education hereby adopts policy 5660 as written. May I have a first? Trusty Jared second. Trusty Goodrich. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. 13.04 second reading and adoption of policy 5681 school safety plans and teams. The Antiora Board of Education hereby adopts policy 5681
058as written. May I have a first? Trusty Goodrich second. Trusty Kudson. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Uh 15.05, second reading and adoption of policy 5720, scheduling and routing. The Ontario Board of Education hereby adopts policy 5720 as written. May I have a first? Trusty Jared. Second. Trusty Smith. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Uh 13.06 06 second reading and adoption of policy 5730 transportation of students. The Antiora board of education here hereby adopts policy 5730 as written. May I have a first? Trustee Mitchell Morell. Second, Trusty Jared. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. All right. And you know, we uh mentioned at our last meeting, and we'll mention it again tonight, if anyone in the public and any of
059our community members are interested in what the policy committee does, when you see these uh policies listed in our agenda, please feel free to read through them. Um you know, there it's sometimes it's a lot of legal ease, but um you totally get the gist of what we do and and why we do it and how we do it when you read through our policies. All right, on to item 14.01. Um, committee reports. Any updates from committees get up here. Um, let's we we prepared a little routine. Um, we had a meeting. We actually did a walkth through and we are like moving some things around. Should I get specific about that? Um, and we have some new ideas because it was a little it was a little health and wellness. It was a little
060loud last year. So, we're moving the band and we've just got some new ideas and it's going to be great. And oh well, should I go into our new ideas? I don't want to ruin any surprises, but it's going to be good. And that's referring to our meet, greet, and eat which is >> April 20th at the middle high school. >> Awesome. >> Yes. And the academic committee was rescheduled due to our snow day to the end of the month. >> Oh, okay. Good to know. I just saw I belong to a Facebook group called Oh gosh, Ster Eeries Unfiltered, I think. And it's and it's run by um J a guy named Jason. Is it Bover I think or something like that. Like I'm so vague on I don't know the name of the
061group or the name of the person who runs it. But anyway, I was super excited to see that he's promoting our meet and eat on that on that Facebook page. And so like that's all the foodies out there in the whole county >> and they get so crazy with each other. I'm like how are you guys fighting about this? And do you remember a few years ago with the Steve sandwiches then? >> Yes. Yes. >> We'll talk about that later. >> Yeah, let's talk about that later. Okay. >> Any other committee reports? >> This isn't a report, but just to say that the audit committee has a meeting um this coming Monday um at 9:30 at the high school. We haven't had one since the the last time we reported, but we do have another
062one coming up on the March 19th at 2:45 at the high school. And um just just a reminder to the board that um because our next communications we so we we have policy and communications not this coming Monday but the following Monday. and with communications um our next board meeting is the next day and so we're trying to get like get a little bit ahead of the game with our board briefs. So, um, you know, we did have a conversation with our our Boseies, uh, consultant, uh, the other day in regard to an email correspondence that we're working on and she was suggesting that we kind of get get a little bit ahead of that one because it's going to be, you know, we'll get behind. It'll be it'll be an arpil update instead of
063a March update. So, we want to just make sure that when when we do send out the uh the draft that everybody gets back to us as quickly as we can. Okay. Yes. >> I just want to say thank you to the communications committee because it is so much work and every board brief is better than the last one. This past board brief I want to share with everybody. I've seen it like have you seen it? I mean, it really is becoming what it it it's meant to be, and it's fun to read. It's uplifting, and it's informative. I just the work that that committee has done to really bring that into focus is awesome. >> And I'll just piggyback on that and say one thing we've been putting on the end of the board
064briefs the last couple of years is that you to subscribe to board briefs, you don't have to be a parent of a student. You don't you don't have to have a kid in in Ontario schools already. You could be someone who's coming in in the future. You could be a uh a grandparent, a anybody who cares about what's going on in the Ontario schools, any resident. And so at the bottom, the board briefs I think are published on there. There's a link on the Facebook page to them, right? I think so. But anyway, if you if you follow that at the bottom, there's always a if you want to subscribe or please pass on this link to subscribe to anybody because we love to the for the community to know what what's going on in
065Antior and what we're doing. And so, um, we're looking for as big a subscription base for board briefs as we can get. >> So, in order to get it, you have to subscribe. And I mean, we could provide a link in our on our website. Could we for the last board brief? I don't know if that's there, but you know, maybe we'll be >> right. It I I I'm sure it's already on there. I'm just not exactly sure where it is. Do you know, John? All right. He's going to get back to us in 10 seconds or less. But if you go to Facebook and subscribe once, it'll come to you every month without you doing anything, which is what which is good. Okay. So, uh, so John Rhymer, our technology guru, just told us
066that if you go to the Entou website, you click on, uh, school board at the top on the right, you'll see a link for board briefs. You click on the board briefs, and that will take you to the link where you can sign up to receive the board briefs. And if you do it once, you'll get them every month. And you can also see the archives. Yes. Great. Perfect. All right. Um, item 15.01, unfinished business. Does any do any board trustees have any unfinished business to discuss? >> Yes. >> So, at the last meeting, we discussed possibly finding reading material for the board. I don't now we're we're trying to beat the ice storm tonight. So, uh why I want to keep this very brief, but did everybody I I sent right the day after
067our last meeting, I sent around an email that had a bunch of links to different sources. Um I don't know if anybody had a time to look at those but um this and it was particularly on the topic of artificial intelligence was just something I think that the the board has an interest in um particularly in educating our parent community about because it's coming at us as fast and furious. So, what I'm going to suggest, one of the one of the items in I sent in that email was that the Brookings Institution just published about six weeks ago. They did a year-long global study of how AI is affecting um education, students, families, and um one of the links in there was to the executive summary, which is just about two pages. And then there's
068the longer study that we could take pieces of. We could there's a table of contents in there. We could pick out, you know, this section we want to talk about. We don't have to do the whole thing, but I thought a good step before the next meeting, which is just in 12 days. If if everybody on the board could just read that executive summary, it'll give you a flavor of what the whole report's about and what they're kind of getting at. and you know to to to give you the headline you know um there's also a podcast you can listen to which is kind of interesting about 20 minutes but what they're saying is you know obviously all our districts trying to figure this out Boseis is trying to figure this out we're all trying
069to figure this out um but um one of the conclusions of this study is right now there's AI out in the wild and for parents and families it's really kind of the wild west and So um it's re it's really a time for not only educators but parents everybody all of us to educ sort of inform ourselves on what's developing because it's developing very fast. Um and so uh I think and the other thing I like about that Brookings study as a possible first thing that we could look at is it's databased. It's it's there's they actually did a study and they have um it's not just because there's a lot of opinion articles out on this and and um speculative articles and I I don't know if that's going to be super helpful to
070our district to to because um so anyway, so my suggestion is if we could read the executive summary and then maybe next meeting if we if we think it's worth going into, we could then pick sections of it to to discuss after that. Will everyone agree to reading that executive summary before the next meeting? >> I will send it again. I will send >> Thank you. Thank you. Trusty Mitch Moral, did you have your hand up for um unfinished business? Okay. Any other unfinished business? All right. Any new business? Yes. I'm not sure if I can even this into new business or if um our comments that we or my comments to principal Richards about the before and after school program that he's working on at Woodstock that we also consider the families on the
071western side of the district and some kind of partnership or assisting Bennett in working with healthy kids again because I know they did previously as well. I just think it's really important um that we I don't know how that plays in, but I just want to say it out loud again that we do our best to try and give to all the elementary families in this two years before we can really like be all together. >> So I I know we already approved this, but we approved the surplus of some extra yearbooks. And I I would hope they're not going to be destroyed. Uh I mean, maybe the booster club could do something with them or the health and wellness could hand them out. But, you know, I'm sure there are people out there that
072would probably like a yearbook that they lost, got destroyed, whatever. I don't know if there are un what I've noticed over the years is that oftentimes people are cleaning out their houses and they bring us boxes of yearbooks that they no longer want. So are these new yearbooks? I don't Okay. A lot of them looked kind of new to me. Like one from 2015, one from recent years. Yeah. >> Question about this. Do we ar we have an archival copy of every year? Okay. So it's not a question of we're not we have three uh but those are are to be retained by the district. Though one's in the library, one's in central. If a if a despondent class of 2009er came to us and said, "I I lost my yearbook. I really want do
073you have another one?" I'm just wondering whether we it might be worth considering keeping a represented one from you know if we have a hundred from a certain year. We obviously don't need to keep a hundred but that just another way of approaching it is is not is not to is not to surplus them all but but keep one per year or something like that. >> Well, my only concern of that is if somebody from the class of 2015 comes and says, "Hey, I lost my yearbook. Can I have one?" And what if a second person comes? We only kept one extra copy. Like how do we you know unfortunately it is obviously a nice thing to do but where do we draw the line because >> they can make a copy. >> We're just
074saying >> they can make a copy of the copy that we have. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. That did that actually did come up in a conversation between Trustee Smith and I. >> Thank you, Trusty Goodrich because I was thinking the same thing because I might be one of those people that needs one. That's Yeah, I think Yeah, I think there there might have been a year or two that I don't know if we forgot to buy one or maybe something didn't get picked up, but I don't point any fingers, but yes, that was a concern or a thought. So, thank you. So we we we've already voted to surplus them. >> So what do we Well, we voted on that tonight and and get rid of them. >> Yeah. >> I mean, maybe we
075could create a Facebook post and list the inventory and just put it out there like as a hey, last chance. Come and come and get them. So the actual once you surplus them, it falls on me to decide what to do with them based on the policy. So no, I'm saying I would be more than willing to do the Facebook post, but now what what it basically means is you guys are out of it. Now we got to figure it out. >> Thank you. Thank you. Great resolution. Uh any requests for information? I'd love to know uh what kind of data we keep on Chromebook use in terms of most visited sites, time on task or off task. Um if we track any of that or we have information on that. Um I think those
076are two specific things. I think if there were information that would be interesting. >> I think we certainly have logs of what websites have been um accessed. John is looking at me. Yes. Um I think in order to determine time on task, we would have to know what the task was in every classroom and every day at every period. maybe just what the websites are that are being visited over the course of the school day because I'm sure that if like a student were perhaps like on a Buzzfeed quiz that would probably most likely not be or a game or something of the sort. I'm just wondering how much tracking we're doing on like where they're actually going and how much time they're spending on these on different sites during the school day. Again, I
077think depending on what's happening, like you said, if there's something really outrageous, then it likely if it's not allowed, it will either be blocked or flagged, and then it will not be allowed because it will then be blocked. Um, I don't know if, you know, there might be something that we don't know the um reason for. Maybe they have done all of their work and gotten five minutes to play games. I think it's really hard to just look at use and make determinations. Some things yes some things will be clearly like I can't imagine why that happened but hopefully our filters and the systems that our IT department and our IT director have set up will keep those types of um visits to a minimum. We can start there. What time frame? Because I have
078a feeling it's going to be a voluminous report. So if if there's a specific time frame that you're interested in, a day, a week, I think it's I think it will be massive when you think about how many students and how many websites. And I don't I was just thinking that now that I have that context, I can rethink my RFI to like specify it. I don't want to just pick something random and make everybody do work because I felt like >> so that's so that's a helpful context for me. >> Okay. >> So I withdraw my RFI until I can >> to be revisited. >> Think of it. Thank you. >> Maybe we should have a conversation with Mr. Rhyr at some point about what he sees and he might be able to help
079you refine your RFI even. Any other RFIs? All right. Um, I don't have my the last page, but I'm assuming that the next thing on my agenda is to adjourn. That's okay. No worries. Uh, 1801. And the next meeting of the Ontario Board of Education is on March 17th, 2026. That's at Bennett Elementary School at 6 o'clock. Uh always check our uh website because often we have an executive session before much of the public meeting starts. Um I know you folks must have done that. So you knew that we were uh going to be in a lengthy executive session tonight and we're grateful that you came. Um, all right. May I have a a motion to adjurnn? First, Trusty Jared. Second, Trusty Goodrich. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Great. Thank you. Thank you
080all.