001let's open the public course so our first it's been a while boy I'm all rusty um this sort of business is to accept the cpsc CSE reports that we reviewed in executive session thanks Josh second I think so all those in favor can you pose minutes of our meeting so how are we gonna do like all November and then come back or excuse me all December and then are we gonna do like November Menace December minutes um so okay so we're going to go by category of things there you go okay perfect got it all right minutes did anybody have any questions YouTube history but I say that and then I had one silly just type of graphical under the ads report one two three four five six the line down it says 2022 IA
002Runners up C [Music] thank you it's very important if there aren't any other questions comments concerns is there any emotion too let's take the minutes thanks Josh all those in favor um so then Treasures reports [Music] November and December foreign just the one line that's okay that's how cool thanks foreign thanks foreign [Music] twenty one foreign [Music] everybody's all right well that we can do the federal funds number eight and let's go 1.6 almost December now I do see that on the agenda I have the month strong November is final Sunday yeah okay so then General 24 or current month s [Music] foreign and then lunch fun seven this is not compelling meeting stuff no more snow days um is there a motion to prove all the warrants that we just went through sure Nate
003and hope tied so take a pic okay thanks guys all in favor um recognition visitors and we are just representing was it today about the high school dance coming up next Saturday and then we have a good Pacific Dance coming up in February so and then we're hoping for like a fun night in March so we've got some things we're working on our goal it's kind of have like one thing each month thanks for okay everybody rolling it's awesome [Music] so considerations acceptance of the independent audit for extra classroom activities the maybe follow up on this I was surprised to see both of our City Club and the Varsity Sports Club with two separate lines you're nodding can you can you help explain um so they uh there's The Varsity Sports Club are the kids
004as leaders of the varsity of the of the kids the athletes athlete leaders okay the Varsity Club was the original funding for the students when the kids started their Varsity Sports Club did I do that so I did it back no The Varsity Club is a fundraising portion of um they both had the same name so we had to do something different so that's what they came up with so one is to benefit the other no what is the money one is the kids basically basically yes yeah so one's a club that does fundraising and the other one is zip code it just gets all the money that's money-wise is one older than the other are they both very recent because Varsity Club I remember was a big initiative maybe last year in the Varsity
005Club money account was already there so the Varsity Sports Club has you choose a difference [Music] I mean it's a great initiative so there's no problem to solve I just confusing foreign activities thanks Kate is there a second um and then we do the same with the independent audit is single federal audit because we're over 100. [Music] I'll be ready in this one ready you ready thanks me all those papers hi any post so are all of the consent agenda things from the old packet are they all rolled in yeah so I could just hurry thank you so um are there any of the items in the consent agenda that we have questions on okay so the first one I want to talk about is the first reading of the policy regarding um School Credit
006through college now through uh talking Community College it's been a program it's helped a lot of our students and also benefits the whole school Community where students can earn college credits while at high school because we have certified teachers who are able to teach that to college level most of the classes are right here but as soon can't cannot earn the associate's degree without taking either a one or three credit class that's available online they don't have to leave to go to Thompson's County um Community College but um they can't take it from one of our teachers and there is a tuition associated with it we would like to be able to cover that and I have I had reservations at first I did consult with attorneys and some other advisors on it and it
007I believe it can be done I think that the board has a policy um and that those classes are considered part of our program well if it's part of our programming that we offer we're obligated to provide a free and appropriate public education so then the board would half of the district would have to cover those costs it does get a little sticky if we other districts have tried to do this without success or have run into trouble but that's because it wasn't a program that was open to all students that academically qualified they pick and chose or had other restrictions or required some people to pay and some not our the policy as written would eliminate any of that um so I think the the rate um way to go it's everything for our
008school and our students and something that is not going to be a huge cost there's some limits written into the policy that I think um would address any unforeseen problems so I again I want to just give my support of that and my recommendation to the board to adopt that this is just the first reading so it wouldn't be adopted if you want to act on it until next month but first thing I wanted to talk about and then I also wanted to comment on that real quick if it's something I think is important and would have been nice you know years ago as somebody who's helped pay for that so I think that's a great opportunity and I think we should support that as if visible sorry well thank you okay and then the
009um other item on the consent agenda that I wanted to give the board advice on as the superintendent um are the merger of certain sports teams um there's several on there and I am part of the steering committee I support the steering committee I think all the people on the steering committee are doing an excellent job we have a rubric that we try to follow um but in this case there are two teams where when I look at the rubric it's less than clear some of the things that I think are very important is that all students in both districts will have a place to play um their sport of choice in other sports if they chose to go another Direction but there's sport a choice in their home District if we didn't merge I'm
010talking specifically about softball and boys varsity golf there are enough students signed up and schools for golf to have a team and even if the numbers drop because it's an individual sport individual students can still participate and get their individual scores I don't see any real adverse effect because the two schools practice at the same golf course and would continue to practice together to have that high level of place so students can build their skills so I think it's both schools have a viable team although one may not have a team every individual who wants to play would have that opportunity we'd also have more opportunity for students to actually compete for their home school where if we merge we'd only be able to allow six students from the combined team to compete we have
011two teams then we have 12 slots so more students even the students who are struggling to master the sport would be able to get um not too easy to compete and I think that will help them improve their skills faster I think that would be a motivating impact but the other sport is softball and both schools would have a team um we have more expensive right now and it seems to have more students that are upperclassmen interested in playing uh softball but the students that have signed up could play on their varsity team we have very few upperclassmen and everybody who is at Candor who has signed up would be eligible to play JV and we could have a JV after talk team both schools would field modified teams to start building their program so
012again I think there's more opportunity for more kids that actually participate and contribute to their team which I think is a huge motivational factor I think it would be best if we didn't merge those two the other mergers that are recommended I support again and if there's more discussion and questions for me or anything um so item 10.17 is sports markers it sounds like is a separate animal that we should potentially pull out separately is that fair board okay absolutely and not a Counterpoint book who softball and baseball event Sports we've struggled with numbers every year it's always on the bubble this year we we will not have a Varsity softball team here for our kids if we stay in Canada it'll just be modified engaging we do have some kids that played Varsity last
013year that will have the opportunity to play Varsity Softball if we did merge the program so um one thing that and again this is and this is a conversation we have to have because we've had our frustrations with Spencer Manhattan with the steering committee made its recommendations in the past nine Miley steering committee meeting I brought this up so I'm sticking my neck up our board has always supported the steering committee's decisions I don't feel like Spencer but not in all these hats well now the the shoe's a little bit in the other foot and the occasion here um when we started the steering committee the philosophy was to provide and sustain opportunities for students now Candor students and age-appropriate opportunities not Candor students not Spencer student students whichever schooled it from one of the
014schools are struggling with numbers or needs we're going to merge that was our philosophy of the steering committee that's how we make our decisions now one of the things we talked about it seems like even though that was the steering committee's philosophy and the divorce map and we had this conversation up a Turkey Trot we all agreed yes it's a great philosophy at times hasn't always been carried out when the decisions are made and it appeared as if there's been times where a school said well no it doesn't really benefit our kids this year so we're not going to vote for it and and so it where we're at right now is and I thought Brett said had a very good point are we to the point now where we gotta if we're not going
015to merge to provide opportunities age-appropriate opportunities for all students but we're going to do it at both schools if it benefits both schools then let the steering committee know that so we can make decisions based on that because right now we're still going from the old philosophy but really I think both boards have to say either you know just tell us as a member of the steering committee as someone that's part that's really part of the initiation of this this merger let us know what the philosophy is so we're not making decisions that are counter to what a board one or the other agrees with does that make sense absolutely so that's that's that's why even though the steering committee did ask to merge softball because it offers age-appropriate and ability appropriate for some kids
016that played Varsity last year now they're going back to JV so that's why we're asking for it right now what will happen is if we stay Candor we're gonna they'll all be able to play softball they won't be able to play Varsity Softball Spencer Bennett and kids that are ninth graders will have to play Varsity Softball when they may be JV ability that that's why it's so important we went to merge we said we want to provide age appropriate and ability appropriate opportunities by doing that having a modified a JV in a varsity that's the most age and ability appropriate way to provide these programs um that's how we're making our decisions um and and the reason why they're saying to merge golf that's absolutely right they can have a team of four and they
017have five kids but there they said well a couple of kids aren't you know with the viability rubric when you have five one gets hurt one becomes ineligible now you're down to three and you don't have the team anymore but with golf they can still participate but they don't have a scoring team that's why it takes the sting out of it for players because they can still they can still golf they're just not going to have a scoring team on the other hand those five kids potentially zero of them would would get a score as emerged group and also what if one of them did score when the merge if there's a Candor kid that won't be on the scoring part of it you see what I'm saying yeah so both these are funky because
018both have viability independently yeah which is and and your comment about the philosophy is is the center of the whole thing because if the philosophy is being refined as we navigate this adventure together so many people involved um that we need to find a way to update the rubric to reflect these nuances that are sort of coming to light because there's you know there's a scenario a everybody's good on their own scenario B they can make it but they can or flip-flop and then the last is neither team is viable without the other very well if we're providing but we're uh sustaining age and ability appropriate opportunities for all students but if we're not throw the rubric out the window it doesn't make a difference oops you know it's well Spencer you got enough we
019don't too bad you guys don't have softball this year or if we have the numbers Spencer doesn't matter that's not the philosophy we started with but that's that's I mean that's that's I don't know that's in this case we're not dropping in like in the past when this this went the other way right we said yeah let's let's do softball yes they said no they actually dropped teams yes girls did not get to quit in this instance girls will get to play and as someone else who was at that same meeting when I see the modified numbers what happens next year that you know they're all about program building right now and then next year they're like well we all got numbers so right so that programs up but we won last year you know
020so I is the focus winning or is the focus on providing opportunities it would be my question on this specific Center and and in the past I would have told you yeah we need to support always this you know the rule breaking the idea that whatever the steering committee comes up with but I I just didn't feel like in that particular instance we were talking about emerging teams for the for the purpose of teams rather than merging teams for the purpose of possibly improving certainties with certain individuals that was my FEMA goal for you talking or softball okay all right yeah so and as a steering Community just let me know what the philosophy is I I you know we spend a lot of time over the years and it does it gets and I
021know it was frustrating for the board members too when we sit down and we're trying to do follow a philosophy that shared when we started you know when we're going through this these decisions of where the emerge or not and then kind of having to just be blown apart in one night at a meeting with some passionate coaches and parents coming out that that's very frustrating and um it's disheartening when you're on the scary committee trying to make the best decision for kids so I'm open to whatever I just like to know if there's a philosophy change let's let's know what it is so when we make decisions going forward we can make them you know with a with the same philosophy that both poor degree on um I think he made so many good
022points and I think if we take What was decided at the Turkey Trot look at it again we advise it with what we've learned by emerging teams over the two years look at the rubric and that may need a few just Minor Adjustments but I agree it's a good rubric it's a great starting point we may make some adjustments either to reflect some things that are different about individual sports as opposed to team sports and such um but then if if it was both agree on a philosophy again if we put it down in writing and it make it a policy either when this philosophy is applied this is our philosophy and this is the rubric that we've board approved and needs to be followed and then we'll follow the recommendations of the steering commission
023we have something to refer back to if things start to walked around that I think would be helpful just the recommendation we could draft a policy putting your board to you know have a reading of and review if you'd like us to say I'm assuming with the student committee the question I'm more sensitive to his money coach says in a public meeting you know he's got so many kids signed up but you know so and so they won't be coming you know they they never show up when they say they're gonna if that judgment really rubs me the wrong way I think they're all going to show they have to call them well and we did have just to say that we did have a a time where we said we're going to merge a
024team a coach modified soccer their coach said no we have enough so they said no we're not we're not going to merge even though we were officially merged afterwards the league actually came up with their own schedule because Spencer said they had their own players so we're going to have our own we kind of split I don't remember how they hit it but we split the games up and everything but we can do it they didn't have enough players and they're like uh Candor can we come join you again and we did we we let them play with our kids wasn't like that the other way around before that but so I really was very proud of our board and the coaches and allowing the kids all to have an opportunity to play soccer but
025on the other hand hasn't always the same paper hasn't always been granted so that's very frustrating so I'd like to say let's just if that's the way it's going to be let's let let's just know that so that when we make decisions is going to be have to be beneficial for both schools individually or for all students who are going to merge that's that's all I'm saying books and let's not because the steering committee you know whether it's the breed or disagreed we've obviously had coaches that haven't agreed with by and large the decisions the steering committee have come up with I would say have been correct decisions even when it wasn't followed through whether you know when it I think it was the right decision and the rubrics worked very well for us it
026may not be perfect but it's worked very well um so but that being said doesn't mean that we have to go by it doesn't mean we have to keep the same philosophy it can change just let us know because without doing that it's very frustrating for us on this hearing Community to make decisions that aren't going to be supported in the end I can hear you um so do we want to vote I guess we think we should we need to pull that out one seven out at least BNC foreign so let's take well let's finish this out I guess so 10 10.17 B and C um I guess there's Josh do you want to word the motion or how do you want to make a motion that be separately consider on an individual boat
027for 10.17 B JB and Varsity Softball 10.17c Varsity golf boys foreign agenda is there a motion to improve the remainder of the consent agenda with the exception of those two items thanks Nate is there a second I'll second it thanks hope all those in favor uh any pose okay so we're taking care of the rest of that so now the motion to merge JV Varsity Softball um I guess we have to do it just is there is there a motion to approve those to emerge I mean that's as it's written we can or or we can invert it is there a motion to unmerge to to go independently as candor it would be Candor modified with softball and Candor JV softball thanks Jeff is there a second second to to yeah to talk about it
028later there's more to talk about right now be the time to talk about it more foreign so I think there's absolutely space to either revise the rubric or augment it with whatever's most appropriate to to add some of these nuances to it that isn't gonna happen tonight and when does the section need to know right like do we have to make a decision right now they would like to know they needed to know in December yeah next year we have to have decisions Before Christmas day but um won't vote on it until next week if you want you know I don't know quite how we could later than tonight even if the ball tonight if you're on the fence I would say about health board has historically done if you're not convinced that you should
029not merge that would be my last day right status call keep it as as recommended and if you have an astronomer opinion about it then don't that would be how I would phrase it and I personally I'm going to vote now that's from the information I had from sitting in that meeting and I expressed those same feelings there so I feel good about that but that's just me you guys so what were the votes in that meeting like how many it was just uh I believe just myself from the transport director and I I clicked on when I first I said no and then I there was more discussion and I said okay we were the minorities yeah for sure hey it's the the apparent motivation based on the information that I have at this
030time doesn't feel good I think it didn't feel good in the meeting yeah it just didn't the numbers out Wade I think like it didn't matter if everybody put in a vote at that time because it was done like it was good and we didn't have all the there's enough for well too right that it passed um that didn't feel good you're saying but then you didn't feel good are they so both sets of coaches spoke about what they felt was what they believed in the best sense of coaches did not want to merge or they did well I did one didn't want that right Spencer wanted to kinder although historically Spencer has kind of fallen on their sword to not murder softball right last year right okay but it's the philosophy piece that's really
031I'm struggling with because you can't you can't pick and choose when you want to listen to the steering committee and if we're going to have that rubric and that tool we use it regardless if it feels good in that season versus the next season and there's no point it's our board has always been very good that way I think for those of in the board a while they're like yeah we've always done that Spencer hasn't you know so I'm gonna I'm gonna go with my own heart a little bit and I always appreciate but I also understand that I have this conversation I'm I'm the same way I'm like look we have this philosophy I'm going to stick with the philosophy of steering committee however I will not be upset with any board member based
032on the history of saying you know you know what this time I'm looking at it differently I I get that too but I I like old Brent pie I'm still my opinion I'm in support of the spirit that being said absolutely would understand any board member that would have this is the way it's going to be applied then it has to be applied in both districts because right here is it because it creates uh among coaches and even the marginal players winners and losers because you know every time we help those truly strong athletes with the merger because they're playing at a higher level students whose ability is at a lower level have less opportunity to that if you have a JV program those kids don't have to move to Varsity where they're okay at
033the higher level they can play at a GD level and not have to keep it yeah yeah that's very true don't feel like I have enough information about either program and the students to to make an educated decision like this you know what I mean am I put in too much uh I feel like it's not my place and put the work in that's exactly why I'm recommending each a doctor policy that takes you out of it unless there's been something egregious right the rubric wasn't power clearly so you you'd set yourself up as more of like a supreme court nothing and that's what the decision of the lower court unless there was a violation of the rules there's a reason to look at it do you feel that it was followed the rubric and
034everything was followed based on the rubric these are the decisions yes okay even though that even though the teams are individually even though the four teams are individually viable right or no what I would say right now is the Candor kids who are ability wise Varsity that played Varsity last year they will not have the bars the ability to play Varsity this year is the is the verbiage of the of the Mandate age and ability appropriate or was it age appropriate um the philosophy is and I just says uh providing sustained opportunities for kids when we say that whatever that opportunity is it may be that we don't even have enough to have uh JV Squad that's happened in times but it's to provide and sustained opportunities for kids what that means age-appropriate and ability
035appropriate is that in the verbiage novice providing sustain opportunities for kids well it sounds like so you know we've got courses behind the cart until we change or the the approach to these decisions has changed policy because we we have I think we've gone to a goal what the uh definitely decided so when you asked if the if it was followed so that's the point where I think it is somewhere open to a competition because where I see it is um well one team stronger one team is at risk or distrust and it has a definition of versus distress that's where it's somewhat um money because both schools would have a team but you could say well it's not verse but every child has a point to play as well and they're not versed kids
036right and then at that point the merger says there should be discussions of an option where one team hosts considerations program youth modified participation options to determine current situation so that's where I thought we really didn't spend the time looking at do students all have a place to participate do they have a participate participation option and Wayne's correct it may not be their favorite option or even maybe the best option for every child but there are going to be either way someone there's a moves so in that way I thought boy maybe we didn't apply it correctly but again I'm wrong with as much as or more than everybody else so I don't know um the other peace that bothered me is we had tender had given um numbers grade levels and names where on
037the Spencer's side we were going based on numbers to be determined for softball so we don't I didn't really know I did I didn't have the information even that required to apply the rubric in that in that meeting um that that's where I don't think it was applied because they didn't have their numbers they didn't have the grade levels so we could just look at it objectively and we were doing some emotional appeals I understand that I'm passionate about educating children too but I think the real grip was foreign I'm gonna be the good thing about this kind that I I will say that's at least to me as someone who still sustain opportunities for kids provide no one is every kid is going to be able to play the sport there's gonna it may
038not be at the level or they may be at a level that maybe is a little too above their ability or maybe they have more ability than where the levels are at but they're all going to be able to play or if Spencer Bennett has the five they end up going down to three they can't have a team the kids will still go so that's good to know because that hasn't always been the case in the past I think that the golf is the easier decision if you have five maybe four if you're 25 more than you need I get there's only two kids but I mean that's I would agree with you there you know I think that's easier should we go on golf we need that on the way because obviously all right
039so is there a motion to have Candor be its own Varsity Boys golf team right that can that's that verbiage works I'll make a motion okay thanks Josh is there second awesome thanks Nate all those in favor uh based on the two schools having liability I don't know if there's a way to like do they have their sign ups remains okay is there a motion to have Candor have its own softball program you didn't and then we didn't vote on it okay well that was discussion so I was way out of order I'm sorry I'm not used to this I know I agree because I apologize to Robert or whoever Robert is with his book of rules okay so um somebody seconded you Josh they probably did you know Josh okay all right are you
040prepared to vote ma'am no okay so all those in favor of the favor of Candor having its own softball program yes I would add we need a review examination of the rubric and or policy and or however we can capture Nuance ASAP please and I appreciate I feel for them this should not be something that the board should have to toil over so we need to come together again have it right and even though we're having this much emphasis on Athletics and yes it is a little bit embarrassing that we don't spend that much time on academics tonight it's just a metaphor whatever it could be for any any program you know what I mean it doesn't the philosophy the rubric are the tools and and how we work through decisions I mean tonight it
041just was Sports well and the thing about the merged sports program is where you've talked about serving two masters right and the shared when we had the shared ID discussion e-cancer for Masters but we're we're having to confront that by having a shared program at all right whereas our students yes reviser rubric create a policy that's approved by both boards [Music] do potentially because that's we haven't looked at the rubric and since it's been adopted no right correct the rubric and the philosophies all stay the same thing and we use that with Fidelity and all the decisions we made and we put a lot of time into it um we have I can tell you the steering committee has had in the past some heated discussions before we come to a decision um I remember
042Jim Holly and I had a real good one one time you know that's that's and that's good that's what it should be before you come to this they can but we do it at the end we all you know come up with a decision we are comfortable proposing to the boards and that is just very disheartening putting that much time in to making these decisions just sort of one side or the other you're saying no so I agree all I'm asking I guess you know thank you today thank you for um agreeing that because I agree too that that maybe it's time to review the Uber can the philosophy and give something we can all that both schools can support so we're not running into this I'll be honest just the the cynic And The
043Angry steering committee member says after that just feel like all right we take the numbers and figure out why why am I putting any time in this just make the decision you want so and that's not the right decision that's just me having a temperature um that's how you feel after you cook a lot of time into Gathering the numbers and having thoughtful conversations and making a decision just for it to be overridden by and you can imagine I guess the situation now if there was five or six passionate parents here that that would have been it'd be hard not to have it sway your decision so if we had a policy in place when you feel like the time is reciprocated on the other side because obviously you guys put a lot of time
044and effort some of the conversation I heard is that the data is not as um the members of the steering committee all put some time into coming with it I would agree and you know I I that sometimes I would like to have more clear numbers you know what because sometimes I it seems like the numbers that are thrown out may not exactly be the numbers that ended up and you never know for certain I mean we can have a sign of course that's better than that and I think that's where a policy could potentially help the rubric where we Define those things that need to be brought to the steering committee versus unknowns that is tough you know I'll work with how you know tacos during committee maybe we can you know give some
045thoughts from both boards on what would they would agree on and then we can try to put something together for next year not trying to I mean I'm not trying to you know put any words in any board member's mouth but we'd be happy to do that if that's something that we think but we would need to know what the boards can agree on before we go through that work [Music] so can I just clarify so the Boy Scout is going to be separate yes softball will be svec yes [Music] it's great you have to take that out of it though and look at it yep okay the information after all that let's go to some let's go to some reports from administrators yeah you talk about happier things yeah um yes sir all right
046um I have this item on my December report but um I want to make sure I talked about this because this could be something that maybe some parents friends would be good to be clear that the state put forth a Dei initiative they're going to do equity and inclusion and that's really um you know really good support to help kids have a safe and nurturing environment that they that are in in all schools across the state so that they can so that they can focus on learning that's what's most important um and we obviously know that there's you know discrimination that takes place harassment and this this initiative to help reduce that and eliminate that in the state so um in compliance with this initiative uh our BOCES has a Dei task force that they're
047starting a Jill kiss a Castro is the Dei coordinator for BOCES and she's just you know we're going to be coming out we're going to be talking about okay how do we they're going to do a an equity uh inventory in the building maybe just a little walk around she already came out and met with the administrators just to say what are what are our goals how would we like where we like to start with Dei in our district um so we're just we're just we're in the the infancy as part of this concern as far as working with um the Dei Task Force Through OCS but I will say I don't think that this effort is something that's new to us because if you you know our our philosophy has always been making CCSD
048a safe caring respectful and responsible School Community which Falls very much in line with this but what I wanted to really share with the board is this you might hear from parents oh they're saying all this because they're going to processor kids trying to make our kids think a certain way or that has nothing to do with that really what it has to do is have all kids give all kids the ability to come to school feel safe feel like they're free from harassment so that they can come to school and focus on learning that's really what this is about so I just want to share that so if you hear anything about Dei you hear the state's pushing you know this or that on their kids that that's not the case it has nothing
049to do with proselytizing kids it has to do with keeping Kids Safe feeling safe free of have graphs and discrimination so they can focus on what they should be focusing on which is I'm learning so I just wanted to make sure we shared that okay and it says it's one o'clock so it's gonna be a while I thought maybe my time was up yeah stay tuned uh this won't take a lot of time just we're having our midterm schedule again um last year we didn't have the Regents exam so we went to what used to be our final exam schedule it's only three days we said what typically used to be four days for midterms but teachers like that a lot of teachers um not a lot a few teachers really don't like taking that
050they'd rather be teaching through the midterm schedule so they always get frustrated some get first a few get frustrated then they have to give up any instructional time for this testing so this is a good compromise for those teachers because we're going from four days down to three days and it's a double period schedule so they see all their kids like and then if some of them don't feel the need to have a midterm exam or the midterm exams only 40 minutes they'll have the rest of the time for instruction so I think it's a nice compromise and but yet we also do have the Regents exams this January because so many exemptions through covet we only have 11 kids they have to retake regions so I didn't want to have a whole full-blown midterm
051schedule you know 11 kids they have to take to begin so I think this is going to work out as well and I just thank you for your continued support for allowing the uh teachers and students to have this opportunity to give a rigorous assessment mid-year to figure out where the gaps are learning gaps are for the students and the last item is just the our agricultural program um I think you know in partnering again Spencer Burnett has been a great partner I'd say even much better even in academics we've had a really good partnership there and they they actually have two AG teachers and Spencer Van Etten and you say wow why is that well they don't have any Tech teachers so what we what we're doing is we're going to utilize you know
052their AG teachers to next year teaching Becky's teaching the intro to AG this year they have achieved they already teach that so they're going to provide that Becky's going to teach an animal science next year for our students because we already have we have 18 kids in our intro to AG program saying we love this what are we going to do next year we'll see if I can be able to provide an animal science course and then the their AG teacher will also teach a Horticulture course so students now they can take the intro to egg and they kind of diverge onto what their Paths of Interest are so now we're going from one course we're going to offer three courses next year and two new ones for the students that took their intro to
053AG this year so we're really excited about that just want to make sure we kept you quick question on the regents so they offer it in June and then they offer it again in August and January and then this is the third chance yes okay three times a year thank you um the first piece there Jackie I had Jackie run you guys some of our attendance numbers and share that with you guys over the past six years since we've been using our student information system so you have those numbers in front of you um and I would say probably mid-november right before Thanksgiving break we were our billing and I'm sure the high schools will always hit with a lot of sickness which contributed to these you know what percentages this year um but looking
054over these six-year data as you can see this here is the lowest of the six years so because of that we've reconvened our attendance committee to start looking at those highlighted pieces there how to engage and educate families um addressing the student health needs and the other pieces there and since the writing of this report nurse Kirsten has been gone going around to every classroom in the building and done a hand hygiene piece with the kids with blow gel in a black light and to see where they miss practicing in Washington basically and that piece was important for the health piece and the kids the little kids really loved it so in case you dream kids loved it um funny piece of that was Kristen was her and I were walking down to the first
055classroom she did it when she put it on her hands and then she put it on her pants and on the way into the classroom she said well on my way down here I sneezed and then I wiped down my pants and then she took the black light she had that her whole pant leg was all lit up just to show how germs travel so it was a good introduction and a fun introduction to the kids so getting them involved and taking and allowing them to to take some ownership of their attendance is a big piece of um what the attendance committee wants to accomplish too within the next couple of weeks our attendance committee is going to reconvene again for our second meeting and talk about an incentive for building um and take weekly
056tracks of each grade level's attendance and trying to build that capacity within the kids to take that ownership um in the education piece of the family has already started nurse Kristen sent a few things home on paper we're going to try to do it on paper because the attendance committee felt sometimes the remind messages get lost because there's a lot of remind messages going home with parents from the instructional pieces for the day um so we're going to try to hit some paper pieces with the family so they actually get get it in paper much to the Chagrin of Kathy Hinkle after our favorite conversation today but we're gonna do the best we can to conserve paper do it on half sheets yeah we'll do not colored paper do you think any of it's indicative
057of people just being more cautious of being ill and actually staying home yes exactly so in some cases you want the number to be a little bit lower instead of driving and that's The Balancing Act we're trying to do right I'm trying to educate families on when to send you right 100 degrees don't send them you know NyQuil the night before probably don't send them so that's the education piece that Chris has worked on families on so that's more you know that's going to take you know a little while because we've had come out of covert parents are pretty cautious about sending their credit which is good yeah but then we do have those instances where because try and play that off a little bit with their families so we have a cosine attendance and
058we'll keep an eye on that in the next couple weeks the behavioral expectation to talk a little bit about this back in November about giving you guys a little bit about our Behavior as you can see the The Matrix that we can study that's when you were principal yeah so Kim started this when she was principal in our building it hasn't changed because what it what it's working our teachers like it because it's if they have a question about something if it needs to be a referral or not they can go directly to Major versus minor rumor look at it look at it have a conversation with me and determine whether it's a significant Behavior it needs to be written up or not and it's very clear in this rubric to determine what a write-up
059is or is not and I added the number of write-ups in each month in the last two years um and part of that data is as I mentioned a majority of the write-ups occurred obviously at the unstructured times when there's a lot of kids in recess so what we've done with this data is we've looked at eight schedules and maximize the number of A's that we could during recess time to supervise recess we've broken recess up before the fifth and sixth graders to minimize the number of kids out of the playground at once so we're utilizing more of our playground space for the fifth and sixth graders and that's where majority of our write-ups were at the fifth and sixth grade level at recess so we're taking measures to help alleviate that for the recessed
060monitors that last piece there make a child smile and just give you a little historical context in regards to that program we've had a lot of volunteers at the gift handout um that night and we had 82 kids that were served we couldn't have done it without the community without Denise's leadership on that she gets a lot of volunteers we just get a lot of community support from that and it's great so she does plan on doing it again next year and her planning really starts right now resemptive businesses and starting to get those gift cards in and the financial donations is in the community so she does a fantastic job and spends a lot of time with that her biggest challenge this year that was that she was in the classroom for the first
061four three months of the school year so she couldn't prep and plan she was here several late nights dropping for just make a child smile on top of her less plan so kudos to her and I want to have a big thank you to her for stepping in when she was needed in the classroom at the same time so um we hope to continue that again next week just a minute so uh it's been a busy start to January um the just from the number of Health tickets I've had and the amount of number of steps I'm giving in um that uh you know we had about 80 Health tickets just in the first you know week of January so very busy not really sure what to attribute that to I guess everybody had enough
062rest and they really wanted us to do something new this year um so but we're keeping up with it um this week yesterday was our computer-based testing simulation the state requires each district and each building in each district to participate in a simulation of the computer-based testing for the three through eight testing it is a sample test that is available for teachers to use all year long to help prepare their students um and but the difference is that we actually give them their logging tickets and so they use their and like eight or nine character number to log in and then their long password to log in for the third graders that are doing it for the first time it was interesting to to do that but they all persevered and were able to log
063in um using their um using the Chromebooks and the ins the state really when they promote it they promote it as a way to um have the district test out the way the systems are going to work on the actual test day and the impression is that we would act like it's the test day so students would come in they would log in and then they would work on their tests and then they would submit their tests and when the tests are submitted during the simulation the answer is going nowhere um they're not given to the teachers it really is just a chance for them to use the platform we've been doing this since 2018 so we kind of know the systems already so we use this as a learning opportunity so the teachers obviously
064teach the the students and and refresh them refresh their memory for the seventh graders that that did the simulation um for the testing platform but then they actually read the passage together and talk about the key key things that they should be highlighting and it's really an opportunity for the teachers to show good test taking strategies and use the sampler as a way to teach content but also teach testing strategies and not just have a student struggle on their own on questions and then waste that 45 minute 42 minute period or 45 to 15 minute period for the elementary school so we really use it as a learning opportunity and the teachers find a benefit to it and they will continue the learning platform the Samplers are still available for the rest of the year
065so they'll continue to use those in all the grade levels to get students ready to take the tests in April um so they're really I I was there just to get them started and then I was standing there and I was like all right good luck and I left so they it worked out well I like it when Glenn is CBT mandatory it's quite soon isn't it so I just looked it up um it says the model and timeline for the Department's planned implementation spring 2024 all students in grades five and eight will be required to take Ela Math and Science via CBT other grade levels may also participate but paper-based testing will still be available for the other grades spring 2025 grades four and six will also be required to test via computer for
066ELA and math and finally all students in grades through three through eight all participants in the beginning 2026. do you and the second question on CBT are they are they using the time they have to reconfigure any of the math formulaic stuff because you said that's they have not been painful this year and that was my suggestion we knew this board meeting was going to be long but I was going to give you guys all the sampler and ask you to do some math questions I was going to give you third grade um no I'm just kidding um but just so that you can see what that looked like so at some point maybe in a future yeah yeah I've seen it you've had 30 days yeah so but they do have drawing tools so
067students can draw um they have touch screen devices teachers let's have them practice both thanks yeah are you keeping a log of your biggest Defenders and their health tickets somebody's got to get an award yeah yes um yeah I won't tell tell the teachers who the teachers are there and it's like a Dundee or something right Holly Europe okay thanks uh okay so the fall athletes um what are these Seasons we had all the way around um I gave you the data on the scholar athletes and every single one of our teams were recognized as scholar athletes for that was incredible um back in December I gave you actually a percentage I didn't do it this time but so volleyball their team GPA was a 96 football was a 95 I only had the Candor
068students I didn't have the SVS hide when I did this so but that's Canada's side 95 um girls soccer was a 95 voice Act was a 95 uh boys cross country was a 93 and girls across the country was a 92. thanks remarkable awesome and that's 75 of each team um for postseason recognition I gave you a ton of that and I won't go through it all individually but congratulations to all the teams but uh for cross-country ayasha Swagger uh went to States and took 57th overall and John Garrison for the boys from Spencer took 38th overall and then of course our boys soccer team who um went to Regionals and represented us extremely well and party season all the way around for each sport um for transportation so kudos to Kevin Noble just a
069shout out to him for all the work he does and he's awesome to work with he's um it doesn't matter when we call him he's working with us whether it's Brett kdri that are talking to him he's right there he's talking to us first thing in the morning and um keeping us posted throughout the day of what the roads look like and what we need to do [Music] um for driver shortage we did in the last month or two months we've hired two drivers one is a substitute so that is helping with the day-to-day relief a little bit um and I think we have one being approved tonight hopefully um and then so we're still waiting for our bosses that we're due in July which is becoming a challenge when I was up there this
070morning Rob was working on one of the buses that was supposed to be traded in July and he's still spending time and it's going to be those pretty bigger price items that need to be addressed so he was working on that this morning and that's frustrating because the bus should have been gone but we're still using it so um so still waiting on them they're saying possibly in May that we'll get them possible you're hoping for and we're already looking at what we're doing for next year um we are switching to Leonard Bus Sales uh Katie and well Katie had them come out and they did a great presentation with us um they're going to give us a longer um warranty period for our buses which is huge so this bus right now that needs
071the attention would have been covered had we gotten under that I think that so we're excited to be partnering partnering with them and then Rob and Gary Morris have been working doing the salting and luckily we've had a mild winter where we haven't had this to a time um but they've they have been coming back for the bus drive and helping down here as well so just a huge shout out to them did the question did the seventh grade girls who couldn't play basketball here did they go to spend so we have one on the sponsor team so yep I'm gonna watch her tonight actually investors she's enjoying it she's getting to play that's what we want so but so that was the past what's up she writes for the wrestlers yeah she is um
072she's doing a great job so the merger period was already well beyond by the time we found out that we weren't going to have and fast decided to bring her over let her play so she's a little bit of fun cool [Music] please okay mirror up all right uh let's see so from the I get myself from the December report um let's see I mean I'll try to I did an update on the January report of the district priorities um so I think I'll I'll go from my January report I'm gonna bounce back and forth uh data wise in December I just gave the the intro to all of you some of you may have remembered hearing me talk about this in the past and since December we've had the January faculty meetings where we
073presented a chapter one overview so we are doing it as a book study but whole group and it's really just in a bite-sized piece 10 15 minutes of the faculty meeting because we know that you know teachers there isn't a whole lot of extra time right now um so we'll we're trying to fit in this extra work where we can in meetings that are already established but then in the January report I just gave a brief overview we have the February early release day where we'll continue to to look at and present a data overview using some comparative data from three through eight Ela three through eight math and Regents exams so we're working on putting that data overview together with help from Jenny Coco who is our data coordinator is is what Chris used
074to do for us so Jenny's helping with that Brent Chris Jenny myself we looked it over and we're trying to follow the data wise process as closely as we can so that the the teachers can experience it not just hear about it um then it just talks about the different the next couple of topics so building assessment literacy giving that data overview and also in February they should have the teacher should have that chance to dig in a little bit and it's really going to then tie back to the work that Pete and Wayne did with them in the fall both at grade levels and departments around the standards how did their particular students do their grade level students who last year based on the standards not necessarily comparing to other school districts so that's
075the update for using data to drive instructional decisions and practices and I have to say I think the conversations and different meanings that are happening whether it is looking at attendance data or discipline data we're hearing that reference all the time like what's the data that that's make helping drive this decision where are the incidences occurring is it during recess is it in the cafeterias in the classroom so that's exciting to start to see how that that priority is starting to play out and hopefully by the end of the year we'll we'll have a better common language so we can move forward together the next area of initiatives the literacy instruction across all areas vocab and comprehension and then core instruction we had originally planned on doing a bi-weekly reflection where we we established a
076form to send to the teachers and have them every other week just reflect on what are the practices that you've been utilizing or the strategies and my January January report it says that's on pause because we came back to the table and had a little bit more of a conversation with a couple different people both admin and some of our instructional leaders in the great models what do they what do the teachers need right now and it seems that the walkthrough tool that we we used last year that's the information that they find the most useful they want they want us in their rooms they want feedback so that was why we put the reflection form on pause because right now I think they want to know well what am I doing that you want
077me to keep doing what should I be doing differently what ideas do you have so we're hoping you know to walk through is January to March I think Pete Wayne I know I've talked with both of you and just I know you guys are getting those plants in place mtss that multi-tiered system of supports that's just ongoing and then the only other comment I would add around the the last maintain maintain a safe and supportive environment it connects back to Wayne's uh part in his report about the Dei work so diversity equity and inclusion it another phrase that we've used used or heard or term over the past few years as being culturally responsive and Dei and being culturally responsive they're they're the same they're similar it ties to our districts you know we are
078safe caring respectful responsible but I sat on a phone conference two or three years ago and I they can't remember his first name but the gentleman's name is Dr Holly and TSD BOCES brought him in and he did a lot of work around um Dei and being culturally responsive and in the meeting there were six of us and I think I shared this at a board meeting and I said okay there's not a really diverse Community like what how would you work with our our teachers and his response was every Community has marginalized groups or groups that are that hold some stigma and he said that's what that's what the work is it's it's trying to be that teacher in the classroom or the administrator so that you are being responsive to to the culture
079whatever that child or that individual is walking in the door with and making sure that we are being respectful and responsible um so I just I think talking with Jill the coordinator that'll work with us in March I think that's the right entry point for our community for our teachers and to say just because we haven't walked in that person's shoes or we're not them you know how do we treat them so that they can feel part of and and to be treated fairly and equally and have feel like they belong so all right I'll stop talking about that because I could go on for a while um so that's exciting and that's how we'll support that last initiative oh let's see where do I want to jump to now the State Testing program I
080have nothing else to add to that and the phonics for reading the materials have shown up we now have to plan a day to work with our four teachers to learn the material understand the assessment tool that they'll need to use with those particular students and get that work underway and the Mid-State Regional task force that provide special education support to us and throughout the region um they're partnering with us using the phonics for reading program and they're going to help come in and help facilitate some of the data-driven conversations so with these four teachers around these students so trying to bring that all together um and then lastly is just the graph so trying to answer keys and Nate I don't know and it might have been both of you asking the question of
081what's that correlation between i-Ready and state assessment and proficiency levels so we I put some information together you can see the this is from December so Brett and I I once I put it in a chart format I handed it to him and I'm like okay what do you see what story is this telling you um and he pointed out pretty quickly he said yes there's a discrepancy there's it's our iready stores look very inflated however the pattern is very it's similar so where where either we were moving up or they down in state assessments it it does mirror that but those scores are inflated and I put however upon further review by Matt just tonight um while you guys are in executive session I use end of year diagnostic data and he looked into
082it more and correct me but I think I I think I've got what you told me end of year diagnostic the on grade level actually includes the students that are early on grade level that in i-Ready doesn't really set them on course to hit that proficiency so that could be it could be why it's inflated well you guys were talking about sports actually because that's way more interesting to me than Sports sorry um but like the fourth grade so the fourth grade I just looked at the fourth grade because it's such a discrepancy um and I looked at the numbers I had to download all the data and sort it sorta and so the fourth grade there were 60. 63 or 67 students um but only 15 of them were at the mid to late
083part of fourth grade at the end of the year the rest were early fourth grade but they showed up as fourth grade in that whole big bar so that's why it feels like it says 52 because you have a lot of early fourth grade and then probably early to mid fourth grade and then you have mid to late is only about 15 percent which tracks pretty closely to what our state prevention or efficiency was so I think that's where the discrepancies with those two graphs lie and it really bothered me like this is bugged me for like since November right and I just haven't really had a chance to think about it and then we were talking I'm like something and I just happened to find where that was and then I had time for
084them Matt thank you because it really it is because it was bothersome because of the question it didn't it doesn't do it if we're going to use this tool yeah raise this tool it should get closer than that right yes right the data that you had isn't necessarily Apples to Apples it's got to be refined a little bit closer correct what's up that's good thank you yeah thank you I'm so happy that bothered you yeah all right so from the December report um we had a lot of activity a lot of stuff going on in the business office a lot of reporting that was due end of December early January um also still you know finishing up those that classroom and single audit and reports from MMB so that's finally off of our plate um
085one thing that I I wanted to know is we do have some carryover quantities available from our previous year's title grants that wasn't used we will be able to have access to those funds um I don't know the exact number yet but hopefully in the next week or so they told me by the end of January um we'll be able to access those funds to be used for the remainder you know from now until um at the end of September so we'll be doing some planning um we're already talking about it a little bit what can we use this for um and you know it said we'll have access to that and get those in so we're able to you know not leave anything on the table of the material response that kind of sitting
086out there um Mr sodabi and I have been meeting with departments and grade levels and kind of talking budget we've been working a lot on that I think we're down to I think we figured today with three departments left um four departments left um kind of talking through the process what we want them to know about the budget process um the timeline um you know how we can support and how the business office can support the budgeting process their requisitioning um the different good conversations um with each of the Departments that's set out 15 minutes to half an hour with each you know answering questions um it's been a good good um information sessions or you know both directions I think um we've put together five years of expenditure data and we're kind of looking
087through budget and kind of analyzing as we get ready to really start building um that side of the budget in the next month or so um starting to set meetings up with technology and transportation and building ins and grounds and also to have those budget conversations there we should know early revenue or preliminary Revenue state aid projections should be coming out in the next couple of weeks they're usually available right around the end of January so we'll kind of have that information to look at as well um minimum wage went up which affected a lot of our um salary information a lot of our hourly wages um and we'll have to make adjustments beyond the just hitting that minimum wage threshold but we'll have to be making adjustments you know when we look at you
088know contracts as well um and just kind of thinking about where we can put our money to you know maximize that interest that's available to us so you approved tonight the ability to move some of it into some special account set to the State Bank we'll also be looking at some of the accounts that we already have set up in other places on New York class uh the Consortium and you know wherever we can invest you know the available cash that we have to you know earn us some income while it's available are you are you still working with the three plus one pprs yeah okay yep we are I just met with them um at the end of the beginning of December so end of November quarter there um and you know look at
089where our cash is available to us um you know when we have those times uh that we can put more okay yeah they've been fantastic um just kind of give us guidance on the amounts that we think we can put away safely um still have money to pay our payroll yeah okay thanks and then my Vlog um every month but every time after I've heard all the administrative reports I'm just overwhelming the feeling of how fortunate and yeah they just they show it every day certainly in board meetings but I get to see it every day I did want to give a special shout out to Chris she's been so good to work with so thorough you know we spend a lot of time together because we have a type of project because the project
090is for so many reasons um but even you know if we're looking at capital projects she took the time to look historically what we've done before we've found some areas where we were definitely losing some money if we can get some reports done quick and caught that that I would have known it was significant um working with Kimmy King and The Architects and fiscal advisors and the money that the whole District was able to hang on to where we didn't spend every time in our budget last year we're able to put that right into our Reserve so that this Capital project if it's approved we'll have zero impact on the local tax base between what we were getting between person and what we can use in reserves and I think that's a very good thing
091um as far as putting money away and maximizing that the first time last year when we had a quick return it's why we were able to put into a CD at the end of the year um we had opportunities to do that a little more and it's partly due to the way BOCES supports us so I want to talk a little bit about that they'll be coming next month to talk about their budget and they're administrative budget might give you a little sticker shot because it's gone up mostly due to the increase in in interest rates so what's special about TST BOCES they don't charge their component districts up front for the services every other postseason the state does that leaves um individual districts needing to borrow money to make payroll in the such um
092you know yeah I know you already know this uh but when they follow the money we get to hang on to it and with Chris we'll be able to invest and get a pretty significant return we'll pay more next year on the interest because we pay a portion of what they pay um but with where interest rates are and where CDs are will actually get a pretty good return in the most hundred thousands of dollars so um you know again something something to consider will have to support those who's doing that because they need all the different parts districts uh permissions to to meet that borrow and take that man um everything I want to talk to you a little bit about as you know you approve coaching volunteers um some of you volunteers coaches
093we had through our PTSA and other parents more interested in other people volunteering as either classroom in the classroom or for the school and other places and talking with the administrative team we're going to start following the same procedure so if you take someone you may know my bike who's volunteered and helped out in the classroom either with coding or something he volunteers we're going to ask him to be board approved if you're a regular volunteer and that's different from a parent who wants to volunteer and read a story in their child's classroom if it's a one-time one-off like always the principal can improve that because that person is under the Supervision in the teacher in the world but if we have someone who's going to be regularly coming in I think it's just a
094good measure to have them do their background check have them fingerprinted get a little bit of information on an application again nothing likely just so we know where they live and who to contact if they ever we need to contact someone on their behalf and then we'll bring it separating those people to the board for board approval as well so it's a little bit of a change but um nothing major um I know I'm bouncing around a little bit I also I know Holly did a great job give you credit where credit speak to our transportation department but we've had a lot of iffy mornings where our you know neighbors are getting very scared and having to delay um but the entire team's up and I'm getting the text and calls and you know exactly
095where if there is a nicely spot where it is we have such skilled drivers that it's just not a conservative complete's in good shape and we're able to get the students in um there was a call for a storm this morning so I've been up some sport so if I stopped taking sense project tomorrow and then you know as it comes I'm going to be emailing all the boards and things that really are operational but I would love to hear your feedback before it goes out like in our February newsletter I'm going to put in a teaser just enough information so it gets everyone's attention also probably include some information in my letter that's in the February newsletter we're also having some build signs to put up in the schools or something like this and
096then I'll send it to you a little bit more refinement has to happen first but you'll get those emails so we can start you know informing and inviting questions and feedback from the general public about this project but it um it's going to go out with zero impact to the local attack space it's taking care of leaking roofs with track that's unusable the entrance way that needs to be more accessible to more people by the auditorium and then some other little things that we've talked about kidney Kings has been great working with us and giving us that timeline and Friday [Music] the 15 board comments nice to see how how over the place you need to take take some time for yourself though sometimes but we'll see her everywhere games here there it was nice
097to see you again thanks it's almost uh I think we do well recognition visitors um can I ask a question uh any questions so I know we talked a little bit about um the before and after school program I know last time we hired practice was back in November lasting moment is mentioned a little bit I'm just curious if there was another update on that or where it was buying yep so Brent and I met with um the after school program coordinator but we met with her and she had um right now she's sending paperwork to the state to certify our building for a program for before and after school um and she sent me a flyer for our teachers who are interested in working in the program and have had a few teachers that
098were interested that I sent them to she's really safe facilitating everything as far as hiring teachers and setting this space up they toured our building just to certify everything so it's going to be a completely processor hope is to be there in September to get it started and underway whether it be in charge for students or this community free or yeah it's a minimal charge and it was I think it's four dollars an hour it was the anticipated start in the programs called healthy kids before and after or just before before they'll be offering before and after so you know as part of the next that person they have to we have to get certified to run the program and then once that happens then more information will come out so we can really get
099uh more solid idea of how many parents will utilize this and need it um who's the person who's who's picking this up it's the program called healthy kids it's data certified I forgot what the woman's name was so somebody from the state game or no so they really are a private private corporation that run these programs they have programs at other places in the state so a week the way it would work basically is they'll get the certification they'll lease space at a nominal amount to keep their costs low as low as possible from us and then they run the program so it would take us too long to get certified do you think because we're already in school and we're certified to running we'd start like we were starting a brand new program where
100I can do anything um so it's going to be quicker for them to run and to University Club they do have a component of the program where they work with high school kids to get them certified to work in the program itself okay okay send a little Community it's you know the community that I've asked before yeah yeah no impact care decisions for next fall so buses and yep yeah probably too soon to estimate drop-off pickup times like what what their window is on either end of quite generous what's that idea of your question what times in the morning the afternoon is quite generous is that recalls yes they said that normally about six o'clock discovered the interesting part is that they anticipate a loss in Revenue the first couple years because they offered it
101such a payable rate favorable rate for the parents so okay yeah okay so we do need another exact session like Obama spoke 8 46 we are thanks guys I feel weird too is