001e e e good evening every everyone we're calling the June 4th 2024 meeting of the entt school board to order we have a tobacco policy in place there is no smoking within 100 ft of any school building please rise for the pledge district clerk will you please call roll trusty Jerome here truste Mitchell morale here trusty Goodridge here trust Hemmingway Lynch here trusty Rondo here trusty story here trusty Bishop here thank you thank you okay um item 2.01 we may I have a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment of a particular person trusty Rondo second trusty story all in favor great we'll be back within a half hour e e e okay we are back from executive session may I have a motion to exit executive session and return to public
002session trusty Jerome second trusty goodr all in favor thank you Mr Bono the principal of Bennett Elementary School is here to welcome the board all right thank you for that um yes I need a backpack pocketbooks are just too small for me um you know uh good evening everybody and uh wise choice on your part to Pivot and move down here um it's about 86 degrees in cafeteria so it's a little bit cooler in here um I wanted to uh just say um it was a pleasure working with so many of you this past weekend um actually um trusty Rano I think you're the one person I didn't get to work with intimately you know I saw you from across the playground um but uh I just had a lot of fun in it it
003you know the the satisfaction of working together for a common goal and sweating and uh you know doing exhausting work and then seeing what those children are gonna have um I just thank you thank you very much and trusty goodr I just want you to know should go up and do standup because I learned how much of a comedian he actually really is and uh I know this board position is just a Prelude to you doing standup comedy thank you for that um I have a couple of things to say uh I'm going to be a little long winded for two reasons one I have a lot to say there's only a couple things going on at Bennett and two um the student government's coming but uh they're not going to be till about 6:30
004so um and I know they're up there they're playing a baseball game and they're running down so um they're very concerned about how they looked I don't have to worry about it they don't care you don't care what they look like um so what's been going on uh the play build you know uh it looks awesome up there when you drive up to Bennett from the outside you're it's just it's a new campus it's already a new campus um and even in the driveway you can see the new playground structures and also the the New Garden that even though it's behind the school it just stands out and it's magnificent so um there's been a lot of a lot of work and there's a lot of result based on all of your Collective effort so
005thank you to all of you thank you to all of the parents and teachers and everyone else who's volunteered to help make that happen um speaking about the garden um that's been a huge help in transitioning the students from Phoenicia to Bennett uh on Earth Day the phoenicia's Earth Day they painted rocks with their names on them and then they were sent to Bennett and then um even the siblings of some of those students in Bennett down their their brother or sister's rocks and they're they're in the garden and they been planting and um as you may or may not know the Phoenicia students are orienting themselves to Phoenicia to Bennett this week yesterday we had kindergarten today we had third grade and they've been actually planting seeds in the garden and um just want
006to give a big shout out to Janice tier who helped LED that that initiative um um there's been so much going on we've had so many concerts last week last Friday um there was a show at Bennett called Bennett Got Talent and it was Bennett's talent show um Adam blank who's a teaching assistant in Bennett volunteered his time uh to put on that show and it was Absolut Priceless I don't know I don't think we filmed it um but I know there's a lot of footage out there and I'm sure a lot of parents put things put videos up on Facebook but it was it was it was incredible so entertaining in in every single way and we have so many students at least in Bennett I'm sure in notor who no I know not
007to are who actually participate in a Rock Academy and they had a concert this past weekend and I went go see them at the wock playhouse there is real talent there and we should really be sending them off to some professional skits and charging them a mission it it was amazing and I was actually just talking to a student behind me right beforehand because she sang starway to heaven and killed it um it's amazing amazing talent in this District um so before the student government comes out comes up and and brags about all their accomplishments for the year um I want to just give um an appropriate recognition to all the fourth and fifth grade teachers and Jenny Jared um who was the parent representative uh because we actually um recreated report cards in 2012
008common Corp was instituted but we've not changed our report cards um those you have been students know that we give percent B report cards and um we we were overdue for for a change and um we've met over a number of months and a countless amount of times uh and we had huge debates we had some really uh healthy discussions uh on changing our report cards and I just want to just give a complete recognition and praise and and just know that I am so genuinely proud of of the Bennett teachers and the work that they've done this year to create the report cards for next year um you know we had to um come up with a more comprehensive and more meaningful lens for parents to to view their children's learning and um I
009really feel like they accomplished that um and we didn't do it in a way where it was so judgy you know we don't you don't get grades based on how you are as as board members you know get a grade based on how you are as a superintendent or even as as a principal you know and no matter what job you have in Industry just not percentage grades of course there's bonuses that are always nice but um there's no grade and it and it's it's almost stigmatizing U so just to sum up so many months worth of work um we really tried to get away from a numeric system even the one two threes or fours that New York State puts out in terms of their state assessments um we deviated from that and um
010next year you'll see in both Woodstock and uh Bennett for fourth and fifth grade only um we have they have a performance key of M which means they meet um performance expectations uh p means they're progressing towards the standards and N means not yet we wanted to make it so that um you know not to despair to keep on being positive you know to have that growth mindset um and not that fixed mindset of the potential just you know we all walk our own paths and uh students certainly do that as well and um I'm really excited about these report cards and um had kindergarten teachers said we want to do what they've done but there's just not enough time between now and the end of the year to start that off so uh I
011believe we'll be starting that next year as well um this before I step back and you really hear the true stars of tonight's uh benett principales welcome anybody have any questions for me yes trusty Jerome can you just review the levels again of the letter based scoring M um as motel for meets expectations P progressing towards expectations and n as in not yet which I love can you explain why there's not something for somebody who's exceeding perhaps expectations we had a huge discussion about that and you'll find that word on most report cards we reviewed so many report cards throughout the state I've reached out to a lot of Elementary colleagues who have gone through multiple revisions over uh the past several years um since the Common Core has um been implemented and our staff
012genuinely felt as though it created a standard that was not applicable to our students and it created um this leest type of of and false sense of performance um if you're exceeding if you think about the definition of the word exceed you should be moving on um to the next grade level even if you meet yeah everybody meets the expectations of the grade level they all move on um they really didn't want to have that competitiveness and we don't as a practice have students skipping grade levels you know you know it's up to that teacher to differentiate their lessons and meet the child children where they're at so you do have children that are exceeding and excelling in that class um but the word exceed was something that they collectively decided was inappropriate okay and
013exceed isn't the not yet works so well it does um and I just wonder for equity for those children who are maybe putting in more effort with that kind of thoughtfulness maybe in the future to think of something that's not Excel or exceed because I that's maybe not words do mean something so maybe something in the future that could be like not yet you know or you whatever that is um because I do think that certain children who are really putting in that extra time should also be able to have that outcome of being recognized you you hit the nail right on the head um um and this is these are going to be the report cards for next year um the teacher said you know this this will be what we do for next
014year and it doesn't mean that we can't edit that um but you just said a phrase that really is going to encapsulate our report cards which is which is words matter so each teacher there each course will have a section for comments and there's even going to be a section for efforts students have respons abilities just like all of us in terms of their student performance and those teachers for those students that are doing extremely well and we don't want to say master um but or it's all about development at this level but they're really excelling the teachers's words should be highlighting that in the report cards and there's an opportunity for those students who are the opposite of not yet where teachers can highlight that acceleration and if there's a catchphrase please know uh
015on behalf of the staff um we want to hear something else but this is the best that we could come up with and but we did have that conversation about we actually had multiple meetings about ex I'm sure I'm sure and I'm glad to see hear that it's still in you know evolving and you know that system does put the onus more on the teacher and certainly they have so much already but I'm glad to hear that you're open to perhaps thinking about that in the future as you test this out for the coming year yes our work is not done yet thank you other questions any other questions trusty M moral so that was for fourth and fifth grade did you say what you're doing for K through three report cards you know I
016need to have uh more conversations with um assistant superintendent Laughin over there um and partner with u Mr Richards so I can't speak about the future exactly yet but she could give you more details yes lch thank you and thanks for the update um I guess my question would just maybe to touch on your point Emily I it seems similar to what K through3 is already doing in terms of thinking about right now that's how um my second graders are evaluated which is um with those three different different letters I think and different words I'm trying to remember now what it is but anyway to just to make the point I think with the for continuity between K through five or potentially building from G through three to four five and just to be intentional
017about some of those pieces because I know for kids particularly with siblings in the same school it does make a difference when we have those important conversations as a family about progress and what we're trying to do uh in school and to do our best I just would love to be um thinking about it holistically yeah thank you thank you for that yeah it's it's the older I become um it's really just about the development and and not about the grade itself and it's about the words that the teachers are writing and we we want to grow our children as Learners to the best we possibly can and not put them in the box and um the through three uh report cards there they are standards based uh but they have the one two three
018or four and um the the standards they have predate 2012 so um they're due as well but that's no fault of anybody's Mr Bono I just want to thank you and Mr Richards and assistant superintendent Laughin for you know just making this move because I know this has been a conversation in the district for a long time and uh you know it's a big step and you know I we appreciate that step and look forward to hearing about how it's going believe it or not this actually helped with the transition as fourth grade's leaving half of fourth grade's leaving and it um it really helped us align ourselves as we're as we're separating fourth grade level um but it also just gives us an opportunity to grow you know and if we do this work
019next year maybe that cohort of professionals comes up with something even better we had those conversations as well um with that said U I would like to introduce our student government who is actually led by Miss Amadeo if you guys want to come on up over here you're done with me right good evening first I just want to thank the board for all of your hard work and for allowing me to work with these fantastic students at benett Elementary this year um this was my second year serving as the student government adviser both years I was lucky enough to have dedicated groups of students to work with last year the student government focused on a project led by Miss Hadley that educated students in the community about the importance of recycling plastic so that it
020doesn't go into our landfills it was very successful um it involved students um staff and communi and collected over 12 tons of plastic it was phen a phenomenal effort um by all accounts this year though I wanted to do things a bit different I wanted to see what was important to the students first and then Implement projects that were meaningful to them well this group's mission was simple have more fun um they wanted to bolster the school morale and the culture with um with the thought that two-thirds of the student body would be moving on so the other thing that I did different was to really act more as an advisor or a liaison to allow this group to experience governing themselves um tackling the roles of president vice president secretaries and Home Room Representatives
021I feel that they learned a lot and gained some real world experience in each of these roles one lesson I think they learned is that you're only as good as the people who are alongside you everyone had to work together to be successful of our me productive than others but it was their responsibility to bring the meetings back to order and stay focused to achieve their goals I also learned that you can't always achieve goals that are too lofty but you can make small improvements that still make an impact such as advocating for lunch periods to be outside one of their most popular initiatives was free cookie Friday which they're going to talk to you about and they also chose two community service projects that they are going to talk to you about I'm very
022proud of the large and small moments throughout the year that I believe did make an impact on the school morale which was their goal from the beginning tonight you'll hear from our student council president co- secretaries and one of our home room Representatives the vice president couldn't be here tonight because he's celebrating his birthday but he played an integral role in this year's student council um thank you and here is Brian our student council president um hello my name is backer Bryant I am the student council president my responsibilities as president are to make agendas and run meetings being president has had some highs and lows but in the end I've learned that everything will work out fine being president has also taught me a lot about being in charge and that it's not always
023going to be easy now and without my team of fellow student council members and members of The Home Room Representatives we would not have accomplished nearly as much as we have one of these accomplishments was our community donations to the SPCA these SPCA donations were pet toys and pet food this started out as a way to celebrate our school therapy dog gig's birthday this February but ended in a donation worth a million lastly I would like to thank our student adviser sadeo um our hom room R Marley Bishop my vice president who could not make it tonight Dylan Jared and last but not least my two secretaries Jacqueline harlo and Emma mat thank you bter next you'll hear from Jackie and Emma the co- secretaries hello my is and I'm Jac har our job is
024to take notes and make sure everything is organized one of our accomplishments was a food drive we worked every recess to make sure all food was safe and healthy every month we hand out complimentary cookies um so about four months ago certain kids were invited to stay at the asokan center for three days during the yes Summit the yes Summit was a summit to help environmental and climate there we had the idea for the Triple B station the Triple B stands for Bennett's B anual bio so the station that we um planned will be used to make seed bombs during Earth Day with native plants only the plants um that were Native will help animals and most of all pollinators student cide of having lunch outs and students thank you ladies and finally we have
025Marley our home room representative hi my name is Marley bishop and I'm a Home Room representative for the 2023 2024 school year my job is to support our officers and create new ideas one of the ideas that we came up as a group is kindness day we had so kindness day was to like bring kindness throughout Bennett and bring everyone together we had students create posters that went throughout the hallways and during Library classes we created letters that went throughout the grades another thing that we did this year was we voted for the yearbook cover for Bennett 2023 24 students this being a student council led us experience real life responsibility thanks for listening to all the accomplishments that we've made over the school year thank you guys for all coming and I'm sure you
026two need to get back up to your baseball game they're amazing and I wish them the best thank you for everything you did thank you thank you so much Mrs Amadeo and students thank you so much Mr Bono great job everybody on to item 4.01 our transportation director Nicole summer is here to present the ster County 2024 school bus driver of the Year award no that's okay yes we she was actually miss bordon congratulations was presented with the award but we wanted to recognize and honor her so I Believe Miss sers has some things to say no I thought you were well I'll interject while miss Summers walks to the mic and I'll just say on behalf of the school board we are so excited for you and we're so proud of you um I
027don't know if you saw U your picture and a a little write up in our most recent board briefs that went out and we're we're just so thrilled for you and and really recognizing the great job you've done and we thank you thank you for inviting me here tonight I selected Gail bordon uh because I've had the pleasure of working with Gail for um about 17 and a half years um I started back in I think 2007 and and met her um and then came to work at antora and uh we worked together I was the dispatcher and then she I guess luckily retired before he became the director anyway she has put in 42 years um to the district um has never had any incidents accidents uh the children praise and love her the
028parents praise and love her I have frequently hand selected for certain runs that I know that she could handle and do a good job with and she currently doeses that and um I do believe she is thinking um in the near future of retirement and um I will miss her very much and uh it will be a sad day that she leaves the district I would just like to Echo that and say that um for as long as I can remember Miss bordon has been a revered and respected and adored driver for our students and I know that Miss sumer's Miss Sumer was absolutely enthusiastic and wanted very much to honor um your dedication and your many years of work for our district and serving our students and thank you so much and we're so
029so pleased that you were honored and recognized okay moving on to item 4.02 our assistant superintendent for business Monica lir excuse me will present the 20232 24 fund balance and Reserve plan so the reserve plan is required to be reviewed and approved by the Board of Ed every year so what I uh do and prior to the approval is put together this plan so that every member of the board in addition to the public can can get an idea of what it means for a school to hold reserves um there are also a lot of requirements when it comes to the reserves what we can and cannot do with it so it goes through all of the various reserves that we have the authority that establishes them what an Ideal Balance looks like for the
030reserve and then a discussion and a recommendation for the future so um I won't go through each and every one of them individually um unless you questions if you look at the last page is kind of the important one so what it says is that if available at the end of the 2324 school year um that we would adjust various uh reserves in this order so we would first adjust the employee benefit acrw liability and this is based on the entitlement so this is all of the monies that's if the school district Clos its doors tomorrow what would we owe staff members 12 month staff members for vacations what would we owe um potentially any um staff member that could retire um and so then we hold that money aside um in addition 4% is
031allowed to be held in what's called unassigned fund balance and we would we currently have 4% of this budget sit on ass so we would add an additional 44,000 so that we would meet 4% % of next year's um budget is unassigned and then if there is any other additional remaining monies we would want to put it into the 22 2023 capital reserve that was established last year and then that will help offset any future costs for capital projects and not um require us to have to borrow as much money so that is how we're looking so does anybody have any questions trusty goodr I don't have any questions I just want to thank you a lot of detail here I don't pertain I understand everything but um this explains a lot more than I
032knew before thank you you're very welcome so then I will just say that on the next board meeting the same plan will be up for um approval trusty Jon question yes that pertains to my question of is this that is the full explanation of voting for approval next week on what is in these papers is that correct correct okay so by approving it you're then saying that once the books are closed that as the assistant superintendent for business I can make these changes to the reserves okay thank you and if trustees have questions between now and the next board meeting they can reach out to you right right yeah absolutely okay great because I know sometimes it's uh it comes to you later so please feel free to reach out any other questions no okay
033moving on to superintendent district news thank you I wanted to start U by thanking our community for supporting our budget and our proposition um again this year this community has been consistently supportive of the District but I want to ensure uh that everyone knows that we do not take the support for granted and we very much appreciate it and I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to the B polls and voting um it's really the um it's our civic duty and it that's a great uh example for our students and I very much appreciate um the support uh so this week not this week last week our seniors who participated in oler Bose's Career and Technical Center had their completion celebration at UPAC we had 25 students recognized for completion of their programs 12
034of those students were members of the National Technical Honor Society and seven students completed uh Capstone internships and one student received a scholarship the ceremony was entirely student designed student hosted and student L um the evening was created by the students and they really did a fantastic job it was was very different from the normal um graduation or completion ceremony that we have experienced in that not a single adult stood at the podium or took the microphone it was really 100% student L um so there is the 12th annual High School dark room photography exhibit that will be taking place um at the Matthew's person House Museum on John Street in Kingston uh it'll be there from June 6th to June 19th the opening reception is actually going to be this week on Thursday from
0353: to 5: but if you are unable to attend the opening you can still stop by and see the exhibit this exhibit is showcasing the work of antora Kingston and newal students the museum is located on 74 John Street in Kingston and the hours are Thursday and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday from 10: to 4: so if you're out on Saturday at the farmers market Getting Coffee stop by and see our photography exhibit as principal Bono said um and as you can see if you've been up at Bennett we worked very hard over the weekend um installing the new play structure and the playground looks great I also wanted to thank everyone who came to help and bring this together for our students as well as the ptas for providing food and refreshments
036for all of the volunteers and uh a special thank you to our buildings and ground staff a very large thank you to our director of facilities Kyle haris who really was the backbone organized the event with parkitects and um as is typical of his work ethic took the opportunity to not only take care of the new PLU play structure but also used this event to refresh the mulch at the swings and around the existing play structure so the entire playground area looks great and is safe for our students it was so much fun to work beside our faculty and staff principal Bono and phow and some of our parents and students and board members in addition to the playground Works some of the volunteers also went into the garden to assist Mrs Mayon so that
037space is spruced up for this week's um events as well as Mr brono mentioned our current Phoenicia students are visiting Bennett this week so that they become more familiar with the building and the staff for when they um return in September each grade level is being provided with their own dedicated day and I understand from Mr boner that some of the students have already taken notice of the new play structure um this is uh the incredibly busy time of the year there are events almost every day of the week from now until the end of the year tomorrow here we have our National Honor Society induction ceremony and the senior scholarship awards ceremony this is one of the many ways in which this community supports our students graduating seniors and receive a significant amount of
038scholarship funding and we are very grateful to all who donate to help our students uh and recognize their hard work and support them in the next step of their Journey there are events in every building so please check the calendar for each school to ensure that you have the most current information about the events so that you can attend as many uh as you would like the phenicia farewell fair is this weekend on Saturday from 12 to 4 there are so many people who have come together to plan the event and make it an incredible celebration I can't possibly name them all individual but we are individually but we are so thankful for all of the time and effort that has been put into making this event happen uh I believe first student has also
039volunteered to provide a shuttle in order to assist in parking so we will be providing space in the middle high school parking lot uh over by the tennis courts and then there will be a shuttle to phenicia which will will also alleviate some of the parking constraints and concerns about parking on the grass if uh we do indeed receive precipitation that is currently in the forecast so uh an extra thank you to First Student for um volunteering to support the event in that way as well and lastly um Community forums we are sending out reminders to everyone um within the district and as well as the community members who have signed up for board emails to um hopefully invite them and hopefully have them come to the community Forum scheduled for next week uh June
04011th and June 13th the sessions uh although there are two they are going to be the same sessions we are offering them twice hopefully so that people can attend one or the other if not both um because we have so many events happening this time of year so we sent out an email we sending letters home in backpacks um and we will send out additional reminder emails we are hoping that people are able to RSVP but if they are not able to and find that they become available um on one of those nights I would encourage everybody to attend regardless of whether they were able to RSVP we will try and set up additional seating uh and tables so that we can accommodate anyone who um finds that they can join us even if they
041weren't able to RS any questions for the superintendent try M moral I'm just curious if you could explain to me but also to the public how the Forum is different than the sharing session like what what's the sure um the sharing sessions were to share specifically wishes and worries about the uh transition to a central campus the community forums that we're holding next week are literally visioning sessions to really create um priorities for what a central campus could look like in all different areas um from student experience academics facilities um grounds uh from all different buckets any other questions no okay great thank you so much Board District news any board trustees have news to report oh I'm sorry I forgot our student representative okay sorry Sophia uh before Board District news our our student
042representative Sophia odato will give her report hello so recently in student government we've been preparing to run elections for next year the high school operates on a two-year term system so we will be holding an election for next year's 11th grade officers and the middle school has also been helping out with running elections they'll be holding elections for the ninth graders next year and they're also working to integrate sixth graders into Student Government throughout the high school students are excited for the end of the year and are very happy about the nice weather as the year winds down there are many events to celebrate our students last Wednesday we we recognized our athletes at the athletic award ceremony this past Friday seniors had their prom everyone looked very nice and many pictures were taken um
043thank you to all the teachers and the staff at the Chateau that made the prom possible today seniors went on a field trip to Bair ski mountain for their consumer smart Summit they learned to change a tire and to cook they were also reminded of the importance of safe driving by the olster county probation department like mentioned tomorrow at 5:00 P p.m. the newest members of National Honor Society will be inducted and right after at 6:00 the seniors will receive scholarships on Friday the staff will celebrate the seniors with a picnic from periods 7 through 9ine and they're there there will be yearbooks distributed um also the newest issue of the town will come out next week so keep your eyes peeled along with these exciting events high schoolers will also be taking finals and
044completing final projects throughout the next few weeks so wish them luck thank you thank you questions or comments for Sophia Sophia I just want to congratulate you on being named our salutatorian so proud of you and for all your service thank you so much job thank you okay now it's time for Board District news trusty Jerome just to say that um I've been out to benett for different student performances this past week including the talent show that um principal bonus spoke of and um again the for me music is language I consider these musicians working together as fluent in another language um communication through the lens of Beauty means so much to me so every single time I see them up there doing something performative together and giving this back to us um this very
045complex um translation that they're doing through their instruments it just brings tears to my eyes and so proud of this district for those programs that we offer in abundance um and then there's just a lot of things um this time of year from challenges that my daughter who's at Bennett's describing working with Mr saachi on visualizing a future for Boyce Phil to you know that works within the environment and the flood Plaines very excited about those bigger questions with our world and our environment and um just so pleased with the programming and the excitement about the end of the year and um proud of antora great thank you who else it's been a busy time I know that trusty Goodrich yeah I just want to say I did have a good time uh doing the
046uh the build there for the playground it was a lot of fun and uh I think there was one trustee there that said that it was their fourth playground build is that correct uh trustee story yes that was my fourth and final playground build with parkitects and antora along with superintendent McLaren she has been along with me for all the all four of them so I want to thank everybody again for the community and our buildings and grounds and um Nathan and cam from par parex um we've partnered with them four times and that's it's a great build and thanks for the community for coming out and supporting it for students trusty Lynch yeah thank you I just um one of the reasons I wasn't at the playground build is that I want to thank
047the um Administration for supporting Phoenicia Elementary's first play which happened that same morning um and our students were able to um partner uh the administration partnered with the PTA and uh the Phoenicia Playhouse to put on a beautiful performance performance um of a underwater world that was completely written and um uh choreographed by the children themselves uh these are kindergarteners through third grade as you know and um it was absolutely magical and so I just want to say thank you um for many of our kids sorry this this community means so much to them and um to give them that opportunity to work together um it was very beautiful thank you to miss fellow for making both events happen and I'm sorry I couldn't be with you all at the build but we're very appreciative
048to the community for creating another magical space for these kids to play together um at Bennett thank you trusty Lynch any other comments from the board trusty M morale maybe just would we want to remind everyone about Saturday the uh the farewell Fair yes that's 12 to four yes rain or shine yes okay at Phoenicia Elementary School all right with extra parking here at the middle high school if anybody's concerned about having available parking space there will be a shuttle as provided by first student and they do have very nice job of shuttling I I took advantage of their shuttle a couple weeks ago to uh to attend the U Olive Firehouse grand opening and they were very very prompt and lovely all right we'll move on to item 8.01 acceptance of minutes uh the
049Board of Education hereby approves the minutes of the May 21st 2024 meeting May I have a first trusty story second trusty Jerome and we any questions or comments about the minutes we'll switch to roll call voting now trusty Jerome I trusty Mitchell Morell I trusty goodr I trusty Lynch I trusty Rondo I trusty story I okay great thank you that's unanimous on to item 9.01 the Board of Education hereby approves the statement of the chair for the 2024 budget vote and election may I have a first trusty Rondo second trusty story any questions or comments okay we'll vote trusty jome I trusty Mitchell Morell hi trusty goodr I trusty Lynch I trusty Rondo I trusty story I great that's you unanimous thank you item 9.02 continued discussion of the creation of a diversity Equity inclusion
050and belonging resolution the board hereby approves the dis the diversity equity and inclusion Dei resolution as attached may I have a first trusty Rondo second trusty Mitchell Morel any discussion so we'll vote trusty Jerome I trusty Mitchell Morell I trusty Goodrich I trusty Lynch I trusty Rondo I trusty story I that's unanimous thank you so much item 9.03 the Board of Education hereby approves the 2024 2025 Board of Education meeting schedule May I have a first trusty Goodrich second trusty Jerome any questions or comments about the calendar trusty story I just thought about this a few minutes ago um this year we held a special meeting in October to go over the nisba resolutions um that we didn't do during a board meeting and that was something that was extremely helpful and something that should
051be added to the um the calendar in that's usually about October you needed to get it done around then so that's something to think of to get put on on that calendar now or in the next couple meetings so people can do it because it's going to be a couple of hours that meeting to go over the the anywhere between 20 and 40 resolutions so that's something that's going to be time consuming that people are going to have to make room for on their calendar so yes thank you uh that's a good point that was a very that was a great of our time to have a special meeting for that any other comments about the calendar all right so we'll vote TR trusty Jerome I trusty Mitchell Morell I trusty Goodrich I trusty Lynch
052I trusty Rondo I trusty story I okay great that's unanimous do we have speakers tonight all right I'll just read our um typically I don't read it unless we have speakers that's why I asked first the board appreciates hearing from the public including students on any agenda or non-agenda 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 take all of 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 3 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
053superintendent's attention in private Stephanie Bryant hi thank you uh my name is Stephanie Bryant I'm Baxter Bryant's mom I'm a resident of Woodstock I a member of open a registered political action committee uh consisting of caregivers Educators and community members engaged in helping to prevent the closure of schools in the antora Central School District congratulations to president Bishop on her reelection and to trustee elect Rick ksten on their wins to the incoming board open Affiliated School Board candidate Karen Nadu won 572 votes only 7 votes behind Rick conen's 646 open endorsed candidate Jillian Khan Yuda obtained 572 votes and a total of 1,260 votes cast in the recent School Board election a little less than half of the voters voted for candidates who endorsed keeping our elementary schools open and with the shuttering of Phoenicia
054Elementary in the coming days I would have to imagine that a lot of folks sat this one out as they feel that Central centralization is eminent but it's not the town voters of Woodstock will at some point be asked to vote on a bond to approve funding for an unknown cost of a new Elementary School in boyceville how much would the cost of the new school raise our taxes what is the proposed timeline for the school to be built what happens to the students if if the bond fails what if the school construction goes over budget and what if it runs over its anticipated schedule to be built where is the impact economic impact study to show the long-term effects of the closure of our rural schools on the loss of foot traffic to our
055local businesses how much will the new central campus cost and when will this proposed cost of a new Central School made thank you thank you Jillian KH udia good evening my name is Jan kanua I came here tonight so I could voice some concerns these concerns are not only coming from me they have come from voters and parents I that I spoke with during the race I do understand that there is a three-minute time limit I most likely will go over it I would appreciate it if you would hear me out I put serious thought into running for school board and made it clear from the start that I would not pick a side I met with special interest groups spoke with current and past board members and did my own thorough research all in
056the interest of bridging this Vol unproductive divide over the Hot Topic of consolidation I understand the concerns on both sides have never denied the population Decline and believe that a $62 million budget for a thousand plus students is untenable however I care about Community Schools and people in this District care about Community Schools the concerns are as follows you have said here that we will save 9 million plus doll in the five years following consolidation is the $9 million being figured by today's costs our 2028 costs because if it's by today's cost wouldn't it be less by 2028 because we all know costs rise over time what in detail needs to be done at Bennett I understand that there is a vision for a state-of-the-art facility and that's great but at this point we cannot
057go off of Visions Visions aren't reality parents parents and taxpayers need to see a list of what exactly needs to be done to accommodate the students in one building and what is the timeline for it to be done and will our children be going to school in a construction site what will be the exact dollar amount of the bond we need to see this number what's been put out there is that the taxpayers will not be affected by this that's very premature to say because there is no number yet many community members I spoke with had no idea about the bond I asked this group to make sure there is a transparent education campaign about this with the pros and the cons the message needs to start coming from here again not from your proxies
058so this divide becomes less another concern is what will be done with the buildings that are closing it was relayed to me the other day that the phenicia building cannot be utilized as a space for affordable housing or municipal offices because it's in a flood plane if that's so what's the plan or will it go the way of West Charley now to the next reason why I came here tonight I have printed something out for for all of you please pass it around and read it this is a message I received from a current board member the day before the election this is intimidation in not so many words this person was telling me to drop out of the race frankly coming from someone who is elected and entrusted with this district and our children
059that message is the exact opposite of what we should expect from a board member furthermore someone who Stoops to these tactics should not be on the school board are there other voters who perhaps received a similar intimidating message coming from a political family I understand how ugly things can get doesn't make it right I hope all of you realize the risk that I am taking by bringing this to the Forefront I'm putting myself of risk of being called a sore loser Petty and damaging my own reputation I also hope jayen we're gonna we're going to end you here you can email the board the rest of the information thank you so much I'm sorry Julian we really strictly adhere to the three minutes and if you'd like you can hand you you can hand the
060rest of your message to somebody else who can pick it up and read it or you can email it to us hi I'll finish it because mine's not three minutes uh blasting done social media or bringing it to the local newspaper which was suggested to me I brought it here because I have a responsibility not only stand up for myself but also to stand up for people who voted for me going forward I hope ethics is a stronger consideration uh I sincerely hope the concerns that I have brought here tonight are taken seriously thank you for your time hi Lindy Jans on May 9th the Woodstock PTA sponsored meet the candidates moderated by the League of Women Voters meet the candidates is a difficult Forum because the candidates have no idea what the question are
061what the question is until it is asked for the first time for first time candidates this experience is nerve-wracking public speaking is incredibly difficult for many people as the volunteer of the event I do my best to remain as neutral as possible and accommodating to all the candidates at this event I step in as a role of the Observer as an observer I was disappointed to see members of the administration and Bo board in the audience snickering laughing at the answers given by some candidates and ey rolling my observations were later confirmed when candidates observed the same thing and told me so this is not a new phenomenon last year during board and administr during last year during public beard the board and administrators were told this Behavior was going on whether you agree with
062somebody or what they say everyone is putting themselves out there to run for a thankless unpaid position they deserve respect for stepping up to do it and ask yourselves this if any of you saw students reacting to Stu to fellow to students reacting to fellow students struggling to convey themselves how would you respond lead by example support each other our kids in our community deserve thank you anyone else care to speak when you get up to the mic just introduce yourself please hi my name is Kevin wart I am a baseball and football coach at onora I've been coaching for many years you guys may not be aware but becoming a coach at Anora especially not being a teacher in the district or an administrator is very time consuming and expensive and I just am
063here to give a few words of support for a fellow coach of mine who I've coached with for the last several years there's been some very nasty things said about him I'm sure you've all been made aware of it um I coach with him the last couple years and I'm here to say that it's bull crap um it take you get you spend many many hours of becoming certified and it costs hundreds of dollars out of your pocket to stay certified you have a lot of hours away from your family and the stiping that you get here is ridiculously low so you're actually losing money being a coach this person is doing this job no other than For the Love of the sport and to teach the kids the proper techniques of the game um
064I stand by LJ Warren thank you any other speakers tonight okay uh we have time for a break uh folks okay 10 minute break e e e okay all right we're back from our break and we are on to item 12.01 approving the consent agenda agenda the Board of Education hereby approves the consent agenda items number 12.02 through 1209 may I have a first trusty story second trusty Rondo any comments I have reviewed schedule you and every to be in order great thank you any other comments or questions okay we'll vote trusty Jerome I trusty Mitchell Morell I trusty goodr I trusty Lynch I trusty Rondo I trusty story I okay great that's unanimous thank you on to to item 13.01 the Board of Education hereby approves items number 13.02 through 13.04 May I have
065a first trusty Jerome second trusty story any comments or questions about the contracts okay we'll vote trusty Jerome I trusty Mitchell moral I trusty Goodrich I trusty Lynch I trusty Rondo I trusty story I thank you that's unanimous on to committee reports what committees have met trusty story um the facilities committee met back in May this was prior to our last meeting but we didn't do reports at our last meeting because it was a budget vote um we had a big meeting with all of our um Architects and our construction management company and we went over all the projects that are slated for this summer work that's slated for next summer and everything like that um some of the discussions were why um why the Middle School gym wasn't getting done this year and the
066reason Came Down is from s it has no bearing our Administration and everybody inhouse our construction team has oh have been on top of it our Administration has been on top of this there is nothing that our school district could have done it is truly in s's hands because we did not get the permits the stuff ready because SED is so backed up um that who is at fault why we can't do some of our Construction um so I think that's something that is extremely important for the public to know that it's not the district it's not the administration that's um having this issues it's New York state that is do having this um across the board so besides that I think that's about it trusty goodr and just to add to the facilities meeting
067so we also have there's a private prate uh company that does the inspection for the abatement and they went over that and how that's done so um so that'll be uh in progress for the summer trusty Lynch I just actually have a question for trusty story while while we have you here um I'm curious would any of that translate in your recommendation to a potential resolution from antora in terms of um making um s's permit process more Speedy would that translate to a potential any language that you could offer us as we think about that I don't know if if s has already said that they are hiring more staff and they are also going to um make things for a third party the they during covid time we were able to send things out
068to get a third party review and they stopped that last year and now s is now saying come the come this fall they they will they shall should allow districts to use a third party review again um I don't know if nisba would actually get behind a resolution because they work so close with s um but I I it's literally s needs to fill these positions and it's people don't want to work so it's one of those constant circles those Cycles so whether a resolution from the district I I I don't know if that would honestly put anything because everybody is in the same situation with it I love the idea I mean I I really do because I I feel like um you know we're not alone in having projects sitting and waiting and
069waiting um every conference that I've been to I feel like um you know like it whether it's a nisba conference or a a rural schools conference it comes up every single time it comes up in many uh events at the at these conferences so it it's it's it would be no surprise to nisba and I think you know you never know they might get behind it trust you Jerome yeah I mean I think that um well I I understand that it's all the s I think that also for these critical missions like you know getting the the gym ready or whatever it is we have to put more adaptable timelines in place right that's our responsibility because if we promise it and it's not on us then maybe we need to say express that to
070the public at the beginning of when we make that promise right it's not our fault but that doesn't matter we don't have a a gym for Bennett a new gym for Bennett and and we were supposed to is that you mean the middle school I'm sorry the Middle School updated gym at the middle school yeah that's what I any any other oh go ahead okay any other committee reports truste Lynch um yes um the communications committee met today um so please colleagues step in if I'm forgetting anything um but we will have another um board brief uh produced this month and so I'll be sending you all um the proposed topics for June's Edition um Our intention is actually to get your feedback on that uh cont on the contents of it by Thursday so
071I'll be sending that to you um as uh probably tonight if not tomorrow morning um and um the other thing I just wanted to mention is that we got a wonderful update from our colleagues at bosis about um what has been our North Star all along which is the long-term Communications plan many of you um contributed to some of this thinking earlier in the uh Academic Year it was then um uh augmented by the results of our scope survey that we took uh middle of the year and then complemented by a lot of research uh by um our colleagues at bosis who've done a full audit of our existing communication channels and and other things like content of our emails and other sort of level huge level of of detail um and that uh first
072draft is meant uh to be due June 20th and um I'm looking at my colleagues that's right correct yeah and um and then we will be able um I think to you know obviously digest that review it together and start to put it into practice the idea of a communication plan um is that we um are given some both you know overarching key messages that begin to help us standardize some of our outgoing Communications but also begin to um help us just be the transparent um communicative board body we want to be as well as guidance for our Administration and all of the great work that they're doing so um it will include things offline as well like events and other things that we talked about so um it will be very comprehensive and I
073just wanted to give everyone a preview of that we're expecting again the first draft at the end of this month June 20th but hopefully we'll have some time dedicated to it in the following meetings yeah I I would just add that um we did discuss and I think we discussed this months ago when we uh decided that we were going to you know uh put a a um a document out the board brief um each month month that we are committed to with the communications committee is committed to working you know 12 months a year it's not it's we're not taking the summer off and especially with this cumulative plan coming you know I mean the the report coming to us at this time you know toward the end of June we'll have a lot
074to digest uh you know thinking about the long-term plan moving forward thank you trusty Lynch any other committees okay does anybody have old business to discuss new business any new business trusty story um something to keep on people's Radars is unfunded mandates that New York State likes to give school districts especially during the budget time um um one of the unfunded mandates that I've read that have but haven't gotten much details yet is that schools are now going to be required to do FASA um FASA reports for all graduating students and if anybody has tried to do a FASA report that is extremely long and it takes your tax information and it's a very difficult process and now school districts are going to be required to make sure students fulfill this for graduation so this
075is going to um this is going to cause the school district money because this is an unfunded mandate so this is something that districts are going to have to deal with and this is something that I want board members to think of when it comes to budget time and throughout the year of things that come down um like the the governor is talking about getting rid of cell phones in schools so this is another thing that's going to be how is a school district going to afford to pay for this or what's coming down so these are all questions that board members need to think of when things are coming up because this is stuff that you're going to have to advocate for for school districts thank you any other new business any requests for
076information nothing okay trusty story would you like to motion to adjourn may I have a second all in favor thank you that's unanimous we'll see you in a couple weeks for