001Good evening. Welcome to the board of Yorktown Board of Education meeting for October 27, 2025. Can I get a motion to go into executive session for matters related to the advice of legal counsel, discuss the employment of particular pedagogical and non-pedagical employees and matters made confidential under FURPA? >> Second. >> Any opposed? Oh, all in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Good evening. Welcome to the board of Yorktown Board of Education meeting for October 27, 2025. Can I get a motion to go back into session? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> We stand for the pledge of allegiance led by some of our middle school students. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
002stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> If we could remain standing for a moment of silence. Oh, I'm sorry. Here it is. I apologize. Remain standing for a moment of silence. um for our armed forces and those in the Yorktown Central School District communities who have lost loved ones, especially the mother of John McKenna, the grandfather of Mark Papo and the stepfather of Sarah Ple. All right, Dr. Hart, it looks like we have some visitors tonight. >> We sure do. We are so excited to welcome students from our Mildred East Middle School to talk about a program that through the the foresight of our board, we were able to institute which is American Sign Language. The program has been incredibly successful under the leadership of the program's teacher, Molly
003Denine Carry. And I'd like to introduce Molly to the podium at this time. >> Thank you so much for having me. And if you don't mind, I've brought a few friends um to join me up here because the success of the program is also in part to the wonderful students who have taken the journey with me. So come on up, girls. Okay. Good evening. Thank you to Principal Horowitz for inviting us here tonight and to the board of education for giving us the opportunity to share with you all about the ASL program. This is our second year offering American Sign Language as a world language option for our students here at MESMS and YHS. Our program has had the opportunity to grow and now provides ASL opportunities for sixth grade through level two at the
004high school. Our program explores American Sign Language, which is a manual language that focuses on visual information. Deaf culture through learning about the unique and beautiful deaf community and history of ASL. Hearing loss through study of the differences between the medical model versus cultural model of deafness. Advocacy and accessibility through exploration and discussion of barrier to access and the importance of language accessibility. Hey there. Okay. So, thank you for allowing um our students to demonstrate voicing. So, they were able to voice for me what um I was signing for you all. So, that was a little bit of an idea of what we do in my program um for sign language. I also wanted to highlight a very unique event we had the pleasure of being able to um put on for our students last
005year. um our sister program at the Austining uh Union Free School District and I collaborated to prod produce an event for all of our students at the middle school level where the students from the Austining district came to join the students in our program here and they participated in some collaborative activities where they together practice their sign language with voices off as well as created some beautiful crafts about um helping them build awareness of the deaf culture and the community and also um practice their American Sign Language skills. We also had the opportunity to invite I just have to be patient apparently. Sorry. We had the opportunity to invite some members of the local deaf community both adults and a student in order to come in and share their perspectives and um their experiences as
006deaf individuals in this area. The students got to hear from them about deafness, deaf culture, and their deaf experience throughout schooling as well as workplace and just everyday life. So, it was a great opportunity for our students to collaborate with the other students in the uh Austining program, demonstrate their skills, practice in a more naturalistic way, and to see members of the deaf community who are naturalistic users of ASL. and their favorite event part was in fact watching the deaf members use ASL so beautifully in in their panel discussion. And each of the students here is going to share with you their favorite part of the um ASL program here at Mildred String Middle School. And then we were are challenging you board members to learn the alphabet with us tonight if you will allow
007us to do so. Okay. ASL has taught me not to underestimate the ability of others. And it's also nice to be able to sign in public places where the environment isn't I always isn't always ideal for speaking. Learning ASL will help me in the future because learning all the information about the deaf community and the deaf culture will always stick with me and give me a new perspective on the world. I think having ASL as an optional language to learn in school will benefit our school and larger community because more people will understand ASL and that means more people can be included. It makes our school and town a more welcoming place. >> I love that in this class I get to learn a fun and interactive hands-on language with my friends. I'm glad that
008Yorktown has provided ASL as a world language option because I feel that is something new that many people don't know about and I feel that is a good school to have to increase inclusivity. I love everything about ASL, but especially the way it allows me to feel a connection to others, especially if they don't express their words the way we do. Okay, ladies, are you ready? All right. Just like the English alphabet, we also start with A. Okay. And these ladies are going to show you the hand shapes. Now, ASL is really important to be very precise in our hand shapes. So, we will kind of help you if we see if we notice that your fingers aren't in the right position. Okay. We're going to start with a Okay, good. B is fingers up,
009thumb across your palm. Good. Now, this one can be tricky. Point your finger up. All other fingers curled to your thumb. Good. E is curled four fingers above and your thumb across your palm. F is pointer finger to thumb. All other fingers up to the sky. G is pointer finger parallel to your thumb. Tuck that thumb, Dr. Hatter. There you go. Good. H is you stick your middle finger out with your pointer finger. Good. And ladies, what is the palm orientation for these letters? What way should our palm be facing? towards our body. Good. I is pinky up. Good. And for this one, your palm orientation is >> away from your body. J, you stay with I and you scoop it down like you're drawing a J in the sky. Excellent. Now, this is a
010tricky one. Are you ready? Two fingers up, middle finger slightly protruding, and where does our thumb go, ladies? Good. Tuck between. Now, it's important to make sure your fingers are pointing where >> because if we change it, >> it becomes P. So, we want to make sure we've got a K. Good. And after K comes. Okay. L. Good. And this is an iconic sign, right? Because it looks like the letter L. Good. M is your pointer, middle, and ring fingers curled over your thumb to your pinky. Good. And N is just one less finger. Pointer and middle. Good. After N comes another iconic one. What do we got, ladies? >> Good. Now P is that tricky one where you make a K and you turn your palm orientation facing the floor. So, it's still pointer
011finger up, middle finger up, thumb between, turn your wrist. Good. After P comes Q. And what do we do, girls? Good. And we have to make sure our palm orientation is to the floor because if we turn it, it becomes a >> good we don't want any confused letters around here. R is middle finger crossed over your pointer. S is make a fist. Thumb across your knuckles. What do we do for T girls? >> Good. Thumb between your pointer and middle fingers. U is two fingers to the sky. Making sure they're closed together because next comes the we spread them apart. Good. Then we stick up our ring finger for a W. Pointer finger curves to make our X. Good. Thumb and pinky to make our Y. And how do we get a Z, girls?
012>> Good. Pointer finger and you draw the Z in the sky. Excellent. So now you can all introduce yourself and say your names. I'm going to let the girls introduce themselves. if you don't mind with ASL. Excellent. And >> thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Do you guys need this? >> Wow, that was amazing. So, when each of you does the your name, you can you can read what they're saying. That's amazing. Congratulations. I mean, that really I'm so impressed. Um, anybody want to say something? Mike, >> I was excited when we introduced this LA last year, the year before, I forget. Last year. Um, but seeing it in person and and how enthusiastic you all are about it, it makes it really impressive and and think it's wonderful. >>
013Charl Yes, actually I have a question. Um, so my son's a junior in college and he took French since I guess sixth grade we start, right? So last week for the first time ever he went to France because he's studying over there and he so he took a break. He's studying in England but went to France for a week and I said, "How did you do?" And he said, "I got by." So he did well. I was happy to hear that. So my question to you is do you anticipate using this or have you had an opportunity to use the language outside of school and how how has it gone? >> Yeah. >> Where have you used it? >> Okay. So with our during the collaborative event. Okay. And do you sometimes use it with
014each other? >> Yeah. Oh, that's nice. That's great. >> Or when it's quiet time. Yeah, that's great. And lots of practice. Good. It's wonderful. I love it. I love it. I think it's a great addition to our curriculum. Thanks for coming out tonight, Rashmi. >> Well, great job. Uh, just looking at the agenda, I know some of you have longish names, but I was impressed how fast you were at, you know, making forming the letters. Uh great job and thank you Miss Denine for providing those community opportunities for them uh to meet with um community members and of course collaborate with other um students too. So thank you for that >> Catalina. >> Thank you so much. You guys did such a great job and it's just really a great addition to our school. Thank
015you. >> Mike, sorry. >> He wants to show up. He's stolen your thunder. All right. >> I learned in eighth grade excellent. >> Dr. Hutter, can I ask a question? So, um, in the high school there's a language requirement. Does this course satisfy that language requirement? >> It does. ASL is accepted by New York State Education's Department for uh satisfactory credit in world languages. >> That's great. Yeah. >> All right. >> Um so before I say a few words, I do want Miss Ammerling if you wanted to say a few words also. Uh Miss Amarling was so excited to bring this program to Yorktown. She really was the architect who put in so much time in researching. It's not easy to find a great teacher and we were so fortunate to to find you and
016thank you for being here, Miss Denine Carry. Um, dear, do you want to Miss Emily, do you want to say a few words? >> Just to say thank you for being here tonight to really showcase your wonderful students. It's always a privilege to go into the classroom and to see what really is happening. Um, and when I see some of you, I I watched you when you began last year and we saw how slow it was. So to see the speed, but also to see how you communicate with other things when you're talking to each other about foods and um interests and more of that expressive piece in addition to signing the alphabet. Um, so I just thank you, Miss Carrie, for all that you do, all the hard work and planning that you do
017and the partnerships that you create, uh, with Austining and with the deaf community, um, to show our students that it's not just about learning the language, but learning to support a whole community, um, that this is their their world and their life. Uh, so thank you for everything you do and students, thank you. We're so proud of you. I just I want to take a moment to acknowledge Miss Harowitz's principal, Miss Copeland, Miss Gomez, who are here. Um, their work in organizing the scheduling and and all of the different components that go in with offering a new program is is so deeply appreciated. Students, the one thing that came to my mind, and and this is all I'll say about it, is I was so impressed with how well you were able to stand up
018in front of a podium confidently present what you learn. And I bet I haven't had the opportunity to research this yet, but I bet there are a lot of research, peer-reviewed research articles that speak to this has helped your ability to communicate in other parts of your life as well, not just in the ASL classroom. So, I just am so impressed by everything that you all are doing. Tonight's presentation was fabulous. These are the types of things that motivate us to want to introduce newer and better programs just to enhance your learning experience. So, I'm glad that you've taken advantage of this opportunity in our district. I am so excited to see where this goes for you next year, the year after. Hopefully, you stay with the program and um I am just always so
019proud of you. Well done tonight. So, we're going to take just a brief recess. It'll allow the students, their families to depart. If you want to stay, obviously you're welcome to stay, but if you want to depart, you may do so at this point. We'll just take a brief fiveminute recess. >> That do we have anyone for um public comment number one? Okay. >> All right. We'll move on to our student board member report. Hunter Oh, >> good evening. It's been an exciting few weeks for the students of the Yorktown School District. I would like to start by congratulating the students at Milry String who were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. At the induction ceremony held on Thursday, October 23rd, we recognized an impressive group of student scholars. Congratulations to everyone that achieved
020this tremendous recognition. Congratulations to Yorktown High School junior Zoe Yao on being selected to participate in the New York All State String Orchestra. Zoe will play the cello in her performance with this orchestra at an event which will take place in Rochester in December. All schools are celebrating Red Ribbon Week this week. On Wednesday, October 29th, students from the Yorktown High School will visit classrooms at Brookside and Mohansic to read a book and do activities with the students. I will be participating in this event on Wednesday and I'm really excited to spend time and work with the elementary school students. Thank you to the SAD club and the Key Club for organizing this. The high school pep rally, which was originally scheduled for Friday, October 24th, will be rescheduled to a later date. We look
021forward to announcing the date as soon as it has been finalized. Yorktown High School sports teams have had tremendous success recently. I'd like to congratulate the girls field hockey team, the girls soccer team, the boys soccer team, and the football team for their exciting wins this past week. Good luck to all our fall sports as many of them are preparing for the postseason play. The Yorktown High School Drama Club will put on two performances of their fall drama, Sense and Sensibility on November 14th and November 15th. Both performances will take place at 7 p.m. in the Yorktown High School auditorium. Admission is free and the community is encouraged to attend. Thank you. >> Thank you. And uh Dr. Hatter, we'll go to you for the superintendent update. >> Yes, thank you. So many of the
022wonderful things that Hunter shared, I I wanted to share with you as well, but he said them all so perfectly and so well. There's no need in reiterating just congratulations all around. Great things are happening. I do have a uh a more formal presentation that I will give on my report that I will make my way over to the podium for. >> Thank you. So, we didn't have a we didn't have a board of education meeting during the week of school board recognition recognition week, but I did want to honor some really really amazing people in our community. They are leaders in every way and their oversight of our school district is just second to none. I have the privilege of working with them each day and and I will tell you it is a
023privilege. I also want to acknowledge for the very first time our student board member and alternate Hunter and Luke. Uh you're part of this as well. So we're recognizing you as well. We have certificates for our student board members and for our board of education trustees that will be distributed. Governor Hokll also issued a proclamation. I'm not going to take the time to read the proclamation, but I will share it with you so that you all have it. It's it's quite lengthy, quite wonderful, and we certainly appreciate Governor Hokll for acknowledging all of the work that our board trustees do. I wanted to provide some updates, some some really timely and important updates. bus patrol. As our community is aware and certainly our board is aware, we put stop arm cameras on our school buses.
024We have the statistics from September and I wanted to share those with you. 53 tickets were mailed. So these are actual violations that were mailed out to motorists who passed a stop school bus with their red lights flashing. The most number of tickets were issued on Route 202 Krampon Road in Yorktown. There were slightly more afternoon tickets than morning tickets, but but not a dramatic difference. We I was hoping we would see the trend reverse in October once 53 tickets were issued in September. We're looking at October trending even higher with just October 1st alone having 16 tickets issued. So, more to come on that. I'm hoping motorists will follow the law, follow everything that's safe for children and stop when they see red lights flashing. Unfortunately, at least in 53 instances, and that that's
025not unique. I just want to clarify. And there is just a a small notation at the bottom of the slide. Those 53 tickets are not necessarily Yorktown Central School District buses. They can be buses from other school districts that are coming through our school district's boundaries. So for example, a Boseies bus. They have Boseies has campuses in the town of Yorktown. So if there are vehicles that are passing their buses, they would have been picked up in that 53 ticket number. So it's not unique to Yorktown Central School District buses. I also wanted to provide you an update. There has been a lot of discussion on the zero emission bus mandate. I won't read the slide to you, but I wanted to just provide some really important and timely updates. So, as we move toward
026July 1st of 2027, which is a important date in this mandate, and that's the date when any new bus purchase has to be zero emission, and by 2035, the entire fleet must be electric. So, we're working through some of the realities of transitioning to an electric bus fleet. The first step was to commission a study. So, over a year ago, we commissioned a study with INF Associates through a Putham Northern Westchester Bosey's COSER cooperative service agreement. We have the preliminary root analysis report. We are awaiting the charge analysis or the electrification capacity and the electrification capacity of the bus depot. So I wanted to just share this chart with you. I I thought it was telling. What we know is that the cost of operating a a gas bus is slightly less than operating an
027electric bus. This is a slide that I'm hoping the I'm hoping will improve over time as the battery technology improves over the years. A type A bus is generally ref one of the smaller buses. We refer to them as vans. Those are actual Yorktown Central School District routes on the slide as presently constructed. There are three to five routes that would need to be modified or we would need to add buses because on a full charge that's the daily routing as I look at just the morning that's just the AM so buses have been charged overnight there are three routes that would have to be modified or we would need to introduce another bus if if we wanted it that's what I mean by modification we'd have to introduce another bus to break that route
028down to a smaller mileage, a smaller distance so that the capacity of a battery can handle a route of that length. So there are three routes that are questionable or challenge routes is what they refer to them as in the study. If we look at the PM, so these are type C buses. These are the larger more traditional school buses. The daily consumption, there are two buses that are in question. And if we look at the afternoon routing, there are two buses that we would really need to look at their routes to either spread them apart, find more efficient routing methodology, but there are two buses that even on a full charge with present battery technology. It's improving daily. It's improving weekly, yearly. Certainly, we would need to look at those two routes based on
029the preliminary study that we received from INF associates. There was a forum held on October 17th that I attended. Senator Mayor was there. Superintendent and a representative from Con Edison were there. There are so many benefits to having our fleet electrified and there are some challenges and some realities that a zero emission bus mandate creates. So for us, next step, it's not something it is, this is something obviously that we're paying attention to that we're trying to be as proactive as we can, speaking to our bus contractor, working with different organizations, whether it's Naerta, whether it's Nice and certainly Khan Edison, but our buildings are powered by Nice. So looking at what the infrastructure requirements would be for the bus depot on Front Street. We're awaiting our final electrification report. We're looking at funding sources.
030There is a lot of funding available through the state. So, that's promising. The cost of operation, we're looking at that. I'm sure that will come down in time. So, more to come on that. We're still a little early in the electrification mandate process. 2027 is when new purchases need to be electrified. But we do have time before that 2035. There are also opportunities for school districts who are struggling with implementation to receive two separate 24-month extensions. So the first extension we were advised is pretty readily available. The second extension is a lot more scrutinized. With regard to an update on the bond, that's underway and going well. Thus far, we're on schedule. We're within our budget. Things are progressing nicely. Some site work has begun both at Mohansic and Brookside. I I I won't read
031all the bullets on the slide, but the certainly the site work has begun. I have some photos to share with you from both Brookside and Mohansik. We've begun stripping away some top soil, removing the playground equipment certainly at Mohansick. The fencing, the safety fencing has been put up and installed. And so again, more to come on that. Our facilities project committee meets every two weeks to discuss next steps of the pro project, progress toward completion and um plans to minimize distractions and impact to the school most importantly because teaching and learning has to be our number one focus always. With regard to the athletic complex at our middle school and high school, we have two fields that we're anticipating will be complete. one by the end of the school year, the baseball field and field
032hockey field by the end of this school year and the field north of that, the multi-purpose athletic field we anticipate will be completed by winter of next school year. Just want to share a word about design. Uh I actually want to thank Hunter. Hunter and I meet often in my office and I spoke to Hunter about being a goalender and many of you know Hunter is one of the best goalenders in the country in lacrosse. And I spoke to Hunter and I just said, "Hunter, when you play on Charlie Murphy Field, are there landmarks that you use as a goalender? Are there things that you look around for?" And Hunter said, "Yeah, there there there are certain landmarks that I look for." And so he he shared that when at home on my home field,
033I certainly have those landmarks that I'm able to observe. I'm hoping I'm not giving away any secrets, Hunter, to to your lacrosse, but I think that that's a pretty standard practice for u goalenders as good as you are. have different landmarks. We created a replica of Charlie Murphy Field to be that upper field so that our students who play on Charlie Murphy Field will have the same landmarks on the new field. So the same color lines, same colored painted end zones, same logo in the middle of the field. So it was a really strategic design. We also designed the field to go north and south. And anyone who plays any sport as a goalender will recognize the importance of a field going north and south as opposed to east and west where the sun becomes
034an impact. The soft I'm sorry, the baseball and field hockey field. That's the design that we've landed on for that field. We're quite excited by how beautiful it's come out. We had a lot of input from the coaches. We had separate meetings with the coaches and the architects and the turf designers and we wanted something that honored our baseball team, something that honored our field hockey uh team. And this was the design that we were able to come up with, something that we're very pleased to present to our community and to our board. Of course, you've seen this previously. Also, portrait of a graduate is another really, really prominent topic in education conversations in New York State. The state education department released this concept, this reimagination, this vision for a graduate of a New York
035State public school district. And I would like Miss Amarling to speak a little bit about that. It's really difficult to read the slide. This has been the image that has been circulated through New throughout New York State. It's difficult to read that. Miss Ammerling will speak more about it. There are just a few things that um Miss Amling will discuss. They're picked up in the slide as well, but I'll turn it over to Miss Amberling. >> Thank you. >> So, as Dr. Hatter shared, uh the New York State portrait of a graduate was adopted by the board this past July. It does define what every student in the state should know and be able to do before they graduate high school. The portrait reflects the changing world our graduates will enter. One that values adaptability,
036collaboration, and lifelong learning. And it's more than just meeting requirements. It's about preparing students to thrive in college, careers, and civic life. The diagram shown earlier shows that at the center the of this work is the idea of culturally responsive sustaining education which ensures that every student's identity, culture and experience are recognized and valued as strengths. And around that center, the portrait envisions that every graduate will embody six key attributes. they are academically prepared, a creative innovator, a critical thinker, an effective communicator, a global citizen, and that they are reflective and future focused. To allow for this, we will have to rethink credit as the portrait and its attribute roots move us from a compliance-based model to a competencybased model. This vision will guide upcoming changes to credit requirements, assessments, and diploma structures, ensuring that
037what we ask of students truly reflects the worlds they are entering. The new system emphasizes demonstrating proficiency in SC skills rather than simply passing standardized exams. A new requirement for graduation is to include financial literacy and career and technical education. This new requirement will actually impact the cohort of students beginning nth grade next year. Students can show what they know through multiple forms of evidence, all aligned to the six portrait competencies. These can include capstone project, work-based or service-based learning experiences, industry credentials or seals, regent exams, or other approved assessments. Regent's exams will still exist, but they'll be one option among several ways to show readiness. For example, one student could still choose to take regions exams to demonstrate content knowledge. However, another student might meet the same expectations through a portfolio review, performance assessment,
038or approved local alternative. The portrait redefineses what it means to earn a diploma in New York State. Instead of multiple diploma designations, the state is moving to a one diploma that reflects a consistent set of outcomes for all students. This is meant to simplify the system while maintaining rigor and offering more flexibility and how students demonstrate readiness for graduation. This will include removing local and advanced diploma designations. We currently offer several diploma types, local, regions, and advanced regions, which may create the perception of tiers of achievement. Under the new model, there will be one diploma, signaling that every graduate has met a shared statewide standard rooted in the portraits competencies mentioned earlier. We will be required to award a diploma to any student who meets the state defined graduation requirements. This is to ensure consistency
039and fairness across the districts. A diploma earned in one part of the state carries the same meaning everywhere. Local discretion still exists for additional recognitions, but the core diploma standard is a uniform statewide. We will have the flexibility to add seals and endorsements and preserve opportunities for distinction such as the seal of civic readiness or seal of biiteracy. We can also adopt local seals to highlight specialized pathways in many areas such as STEM or the arts. For example, we could consider to offer a STEM innovative seal recognizing students who complete advanced STEM coursework, a capstone project, or community-based STEM experiences layered onto their New York State diploma. In terms of timeline for our current high school students, there is no change. They will finish under existing diploma requirements. For students who enter grade 9 in
040the fall of 27, they become part of the transition cohort under phase 2, adding some of the new credit requirements and moving away from the traditional regions diploma structure. For students entering grade nine in fall of 29 or later, they will graduate under the fully implemented model tied to the portrait of a graduate. So for our work right now, we have begun planning on building awareness, considering how the competencies will be embedded into our existing work, consider new courses, align curriculum instruction, and prepare for the required shift. There are still many many questions and we anticipate additional information and guidance from the state but we're not really waiting. Uh we are taking active steps to best be prepared for the shifts. This was evident last Monday where the entire high school faculty had a presentation
041from Bosey's representative. The high school administrative team are active participants in various cohorts and attend meetings to keep up to date. So there's going to certainly be more to come. There's a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Um, I'm sure that we will be giving you updates and presentations along the way, particularly as they really begin to impact our students and and the program that we offer. Thank you. So to just continue on with some of the updates that were important that we share with you, I I'm so excited to announce that we're introducing our very first AI chatbot on our website. So, this is a incredibly incredibly sophisticated piece of technology that I just have to shout out Brian Marchhouser for investing so much time to develop this. I don't know of many school
042districts that have a chatbot such as ours as part of their websites. It is fully integrated with every page of our website. It is accessible using the search feature on our website. you can just go on to the website and a search is now an AI enhanced search the growth that and Brian you're welcome to say a few words on it as well or if we could even pull it up on too but can you come up Brian and talk about the steps that you took and and how you went about building this I do want to give you an acknowledgement um because I just think it's remarkable >> so the one thing I will clarify is it's not quite a chatbot is you're not going to have interactive back and forth with it. You
043can ask it a question and it will search the websites that I've inputed into the software and it will give you back an answer in detail if if it can find the information or it will point you to the information or it may ask you a clarifying question. Uh that's one issue we ran into with uh relative dates. You know the the information on the website is static. um it doesn't automatically refresh unless I manually refresh it. So if you ask, you know, lunch menu today, it's not going to understand what today is. It doesn't have that. But if you ask it lunch on October 25th, it'll it'll give you all different menus from all different schools. Um you can ask about, you know, what's in the food. Then it'll tell you about our health
044and wellness policy, information like that. So really the process was just manually inputting all the websites, all the pages that are on this yorktown.org website, whether it was, you know, um the high school pages, all the different departments, all our board policies, all our curriculum maps, uh you can ask questions about that and it it'll give you some good answers. So hopefully >> Sure. So the way this un developed is I went up to Brian I said what do you know about chat bots and uh at first Brian said not much but Brian has become such a whiz when it comes to developing this. So I bet if we can just do a quick demonstration we did not rehearse this in advance if we can go to our website and Brian if you can take
045it from there. So, the question I'd like to ask, relative time is a bit of a challenge. We can go through that in a moment, but if I'm on our website and I go to the search feature, and if I were to say, Brian, um, what is the lunch menu for October 28 tomorrow or what's for lunch October 28, whatever it is, >> and there it is. everything. So, Brian, can we try the athletic schedule for October 28th? Those are all the practice times and the analytics that we get as a result are remarkable. So, Brian, are there any other questions that you've found most typically asked? So far the data is very limited. So we don't have a lot of repeat questions. A lot of people are definitely asking about lunch menus and uh
046things of that. That's always the most popular. >> All things that we know by website hits. We see the website. Brian, can we just show an example? What's for lunch today? If we use the word the relative word today. >> Sure. And if it's working properly, it should respond, you know, it should respond asking you what date you're looking for. So Okay. And we're still in beta testing. So we haven't really rolled this out on mass yet. Yep. So they they want the date or it wants the date. So on Halloween, that's what lunch is. >> The technology is remarkable. We're just scratching the surface of what our capabilities are. I really attribute a lot to Brian. Our technicians from Edgitech, our network technicians from Edgitech are working on creating what I believe is called
047an app script that we can get relative time. So that that's what we're working through to get relative time because quite often it's today what's for lunch tomorrow. So we need obviously the um >> no matter what with that there will be some level of manual work that I have to do but which is fine. Uh but yeah, I would love to automate it as much as possible with relative terms. That's that's the goal, you know. So, it is super exciting. It's new for us. It's not something that you'll see often, but it's exciting. So, and I'm sure as time goes on, every school district is going to have their own AI virtual assistant. We were thinking about doing a fun naming competition to name the AI assistant. As of right now, it's the YCSD
048AI assistant. But, uh, Brian, I just wanted to publicly thank you for all of the work. when we first started with this conversation, it was I want to put a I think I said chatbot or virtual assistant. I forget what I said on the website. What do you know about it? And uh you learned a lot about it. And so I appreciate that. >> Before you leave that page, >> please >> um where you you just put in who's the superintendent and it came up Dr. Ron Hatterer. Below that there's something more. What is that that's coming up? That is it gives you suggested websites as well related to your search and that's his superintendent's website. So if you click on that it'll take you to his superintendent page. >> Dr. Hatter's website. >> Excellent.
049>> It's all self-contained. It's not going to take you to websites outside of our domains, outside of websites that I haven't told it to look for. >> Yeah, we've we've secured the system so that the universe of knowledge is just our website. It's not going to take you outside for that. >> Okay, Brian. Thank you. Then if we can go back into the presentation, Evette, I'd appreciate it. Okay. I also wanted to clarify an article that was published on October 9th in the SEO's record. This is the last piece of of the update for this evening. Just wanted to clarify there was an article and Brian reached out to the author. I it came to my attention. I asked Brian to reach out to the author and he did where the article erroneously indicated that
050York 10 was participating in the New York State Education Department regionalization planning. Our district decided to opt out as as some other districts in the region decided to opt out from the planning. That is still true. I just want to clarify that for our community. That has not changed. We would have notified the community had that changed. We reached out to the reporter to just clarify the record that that the report was incorrect. So, I just wanted to make sure that our community is aware because they were able to correct the digital version of the article, but they were not able to correct the print version. I checked this week. I didn't see a retraction or a correction, but I wanted our community to be aware. Obviously, should something have changed, we would have notified
051the community of that change. We are not participating in the state's regionalization planning. So, lots of updates, lots of important things, the field design, the classroom designs, and it wasn't just Hunter's uh input on goalending that got us to that design. We have spent thousands of hours considering all the implications of every detail and the placement of every part of whether it's a classroom design, a corridor design, the entrance, the playgrounds at the schools or certainly the athletic fields. So that was the update. If there are any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them as best I can at this time or Dearra if it's on portrait of a graduate or Brian on the virtual assistant, not the chatbot. >> Sure. We'll we'll start over there. Uh Pete, do you have any questions? >>
052Ron, just one quick. you had mentioned on the um the baseball field hockey field it'll be done by the end of the school year. Are they going to be playing on it this year? >> No. So we anticipate that the baseball field hockey field the spring athletic season is generally over by the time we get to May mid May if it's a great season. Uh we anticipate by the end of June that field will be ready. Catalina, >> I think I have a lot of questions about the portrait of a graduate, but as you said, um, Dudra, that we'll be hearing more on that. >> Yeah. >> I think everybody honestly has more questions than there are answers right now. Um, but it's popular. You see it out in in the press now. So, it's
053just something so that to get out there that our um, school community is thinking about it and trying to start the beginning stages of working on this. >> Okay. So and our students will for the next two years still be required all the regions exam. >> Yes. No change to the current requirement. >> Rashmi. >> Um I have a question on the uh tickets on uh 202 and I have a suggestion. Um, so I know that the DOT put up uh the state uh DOT put up signs um coming off the Parkway all the way from like South County, I think even north of us. So, is it possible to get some of those signs um from them to put on 202? I know it's a state road. Maybe Mr. Paganelli can help us. >>
054Sure. We'll reach out and um ask. Not just honestly it's a great idea and I hearing you say that I don't know if I would just limit the request to 202 although that is and I I think you're mentioning it because that's where the most tickets have been issued but I think there would be benefit from so many other roads in town to just have that constant visual reminder in addition to the law being what it is just that visual reminder of the photo enforcement uh on the buses. So that makes perfect sense. And I do know coming off exit 17A, I think it is, there's that sign that tells you that the buses are photo enforced. We'll we'll certainly request those. >> Yeah. Can I ask one more question, please? Um and this is
055on the uh electrification requirement for school buses. So, um this was maybe last year uh early last year. Uh, so things may have changed, but are there going to be any financial incentives in place or subsidies in place for districts that um contract transportation and it's like um and such as us, we don't own the fleet. >> That's a that's a great question. If we can just go back into the PowerPoint, Evette, so the short answer to your question is yes, there will be funds available. There was funding that was available with the um through the New York State clean bond clean water forget the name of the bill but there was funding that was made available for school districts and there's a substantial amount of money and what was described at the seminar that
056I attended is it was a tip of the iceberg is what I was told the um it was the clean water Clean Air and Green Jobs Bond Act. There's $500 million dedicated to zero emission buses. And my understanding is that there's more money behind that as well, whether you own your own fleet or you contract for your fleet. And a lot of thanks to some of the legislators in our region for reaching out, hearing what our concerns were, because so many of the subsidies and rebates were for districts purchasing buses. We don't own our own buses, so those rebates weren't very helpful to us. But there were there were some amendments that were made that will allow for school districts who contract to see not only our vendor purchase, but have those savings passed back
057to the taxpayers. >> Thank you, >> Darl. >> Sure. I have a a question for Deerra. I know when during your presentation you had talked about a financial literacy uh component um coming down the pike for our high school students. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Do we have any idea what you know how far we're going to drill down or what that would look like? >> We we don't honestly we don't know if that the requirement will allow us to embed it into existing courses such as our economics course or would it be a standalone course or would it be a combination of of of both? So, that's one of the questions that actually came up very recently is what it really looks like and we're waiting on that answer. Um, and we need
058it soon because >> and we offer an elective course on financial literacy at our high school, but it's an elective. >> Right. >> And so, we're waiting to dear's point. Is this a mandate standalone course or is this a unit of study within a course that we can embed it? >> Right. Right. Thank you. We're ready. Mike, >> so I guess Brian or Ron is the does the not chatbot does that um does that follow through like in the app? Is it available there on the search functions yet? >> So I can link pretty much what the app is. It links to our websites. Uh so I can put a icon in our app tomorrow linking to the chatbot. I do think it's I do think it's better personally on desktop. It does work on
059mobile, but I can I can do that. Yeah, no problem. >> So, the mobile website, it's there on the mobile website. We can get it on the app proper. It's a little more challenging in terms of just the user interface. But great point and something that we'll get right on. >> Do we know like what the breakdown is? Do people use one method versus the other more frequently in terms of the app or >> the analytics on app verse website versus mobile >> in terms of user data? >> Are you specifically asking about the AI assistant or just in general? >> No, in general. I mean, if no if no one's using the app, don't worry about it. >> We haven't. No, we we actually Yeah, we we do actually get quite a bit of
060uh users on the app. Um, I haven't compared and contrasted in a while, but I can certainly do that and prepare a report for you if you want. >> I don't need a report. I'm just, you know, in terms of prioritizing work, right? If we're not a lot of people use the app, don't bother. >> It's not a lot of work to create an icon. Uh, you know, I use it with Final Site, which is what we do for our mass notifications. They they run our app. So, I can just go in the system tomorrow, create an icon that'll direct people there, and yeah, they can use it on mobile. If I had to guess, I think some features are more popular on the app like lunch menus, calendars, that sort of stuff. And the
061website is more uh parent portal, um your newsletters. Um Dr. Hatter, I think those things pick up traffic. >> You know, we we look at the analytics almost monthly. So, what we'll do is we'll take a look at the analytics for September and we'll share that with you. I think it's good data for you to have to see how parents and the community are engaging with our app. website, mobile website. Also, I think what's important is to see what why they're interfacing. Lunch menus and portal are the two most popular reasons why somebody visits our website. So, but yes, we can certainly put something together and share that. >> The chatbot is amazing. Thank you so much, Brian. I can't even It's amazing. Thank you. Um I have a couple of questions. Um on the
062on the bus electrification, are we in contact with our vendor? Is this an ongoing discussion with them? Are they on board with with the changes we're going to have to make? >> Yep. So, they're the short answer is yes. They're we're in contact with them. They're aware of the mandate. They recognize the inherent challenges with a mandate of this magnitude in order to power and this came directly from Con Edison. They used just an example a bus depot with 100 buses. Although we have 68 buses in our fleet, there are about 96 buses that are on the lot, whether it's spare buses or or just some buses that are sitting there for maybe another account for repair or whatever the case may be. We have about 96 buses that would require charging. That's the equivalent,
063and again, this is not my analogy, to a full-scale retail shopping mall. So we were advised at the forum that I attended and I have a picture of the slide that multiple dedicated transformers would be required in order to meet the electrical demand. So they're aware of this at a high level but in terms of the cost implications the route analysis the charging capacity the electric capacity and bandwidth that is available on Front Street that we're still awaiting further dissection. We haven't received we have the route analysis where INF associates looked at our actual bus routes and looked at whether a bus a smaller bus or a larger bus could accommodate the route as presently constructed and in most cases we were fine there. There was no issue with completing the route with sufficient battery
064being left. Certainly we have to account for cold weather. We have to account for hilly terrain but they accounted for hilly terrain in the route analysis. The other report that we're looking for is a phase in plan from INF Associates. It's a second end. I understand that we're about a month out based on the last email that we received today. So, we're looking at capacity at the depot. That's the other part that that we're awaiting and a phasein plan. So, they will provide us with a time frame on a recommended time frame on phasing in the mandate. So, but if I understand it correctly, the way our routes are currently done, fully charged with all of that, we have buses that will not make the route >> as presently constructed. There are certain routes. You
065bet. Did I get out of the uh slide? If you can get me back in, please. Not me. It's It's me. I'm sorry. So there are the first slide is a little deceiving because that's a full day and of course we we're going to try to charge the buses in between runs to the best of our ability. This is a very straightforward slide that talks about just the AM routing. There are three buses, three vans I should say. Those are the smaller buses. There are three vehicles that would not be able to complete the run as presently constructed. So, we would have to maybe distribute some of the runs that have that higher usage to some of the smaller runs if they're in close geographic proximity to each other or do we have to introduce
066another bus depending a lot of it is geography depending on where that bus is headed. Are we going all the way out to Mount Kiscoco and and that's where the um the battery is being depleted? Do we have to send another bus to that location? So, those are some of the considerations that we're still working through. But yes, as presently constituted, it it appears that we may have to add an additional bus strictly and specifically due to the limitations of the battery in the electric vehicle. >> And this study is including the terrain of Yorktown. >> Yes. Um, but it's not taking into consideration the everinccreasing traffic in town or the potential weather. >> They weren't able to control for traffic and they weren't able to control for the some of the extreme temperatures. And
067if power goes out uh overnight and we can't charge the buses, >> that that is a conversation that I actually had with one of our um state legislators today and it's one of the realities that if we're unable to charge the buses, we're unable to complete the runs and closing schools may be one of the realities and that was shared at our forum. one of the superintendents who has begun the implementation in their district asked that question very very uh clearly and the unfortunate reality is we could see a school closure in the event of a power outage and the bus is not being charged. >> Um it's exciting to see the work starting at uh Crown Pond I mean at Mohansik and Brookside. Um, I just want to be sure when you said the
068fencing is up, the children do not have access to anywhere near this construction. >> No, it's it's completely fenced off. It it's safe for students to pass through. We've rerouted recess and we've rerouted arrival and dismissal to account for the construction. Um, the facilities projects committee had the foresight to start put up the fence at the start of the school year, which I thought was a great idea. It wasn't my idea, but it was a great idea to start the traffic patterns early in the school year so that everybody can get comfortable with some of the changes and and we recognize that there are changes that the community has experienced so far for the students to lose that play area in the back, especially at Mohansick. Uh I I feel for them. We're trying to
069provide some additional recess equipment that can offset some of the loss, but once you lose a playground structure at the age of six, seven, eight years old. It's it's not easy to to make up for that with soccer balls and jump ropes and other equipment. They they really enjoy the larger equipment. The good news is we're going to replace it with an even better structure, a bigger structure, something that's going to be so much more fun that can accommodate more children. So, what's ahead? what's on the other side of construction is really exciting. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Ron, I don't I'm sure you guys are looking at this, but as you go through the routes um and and the electrification process, um one of the things we might want to consider is having
070an additional area where we keep buses, right? So instead of starting everyone from the depot, maybe there's a small off-site location where we house three buses that they charge overnight and then they get picked up there and start their routes. That might be a way to solve the distance problems. We can we can certainly look at that. That's something that we can certainly look at specifically for the vans. Um it's something we'll talk to the vendor about. I think they want them within their secure facility that's fenced in and that's enclosed, but I'm sure there are other alternatives that we can explore. >> Anybody else? >> All right, great. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. >> Can I get a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes for October 6, 2025? So move second. >>
071All those in favor. Any opposed? Can I get a motion to approve the treasures report for September 2025? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Can I get a motion to approve the claims audit report for September 2025? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Motion to approve the extra classroom report for September 2025. >> The move. >> Second. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Uh, moving on to policies. The board will conduct a first read for the following policies. 4321, Programs for Students with Disabilities Under IDA and New York's Education Law, Article 89. 4531, Trips and Excursions. 4770, Graduation Requirements and Participation and Graduation Ceremony. 4810 teaching about controversial issues. 4855 animal dissection 5320 student conduct on school buses 8120 accident prevention and safety.
072Any questions or comments about those policies? >> I have a motion to approve the deletion of the following policy regulation 4810R teaching about controversial issues regulation. So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Personnel agenda. Upon re upon recommendation of the superintendent, a motion that the following be approved. There are certified personnel, part-time appointments, temporary appointments. 2026 co-curricular and extra um at the high school. Extra duty additions to the substitute list. Unpaid leaves of absence, teaching stipens, certified teaching assistant stipens, coaches and co-curricular for 2025 2026, amendments, resignations, recisions. Under classified personnel, we have appointments for civil service, additions to the substitute list, part-time appointments, and temporary appointments. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? A motion to approve approve the graduate credits as listed
073below. So move. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion to approve. Motion to adopt the 2026 2027 budget development calendar. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> A motion to approve the NIC easement as listed below. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Yes. Can you just explain what that >> of course? So, as part of the additions to Brookside and Mohansik, the utility company Nice Egg is requiring an easement so that they can place a transformer on our property and the easement grants them access to service the transformer or repair the transformer. >> Anything else? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Going to special education. Motion to arrange for the following placements. So move. Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Motion
074to approve the instructional services agreement between the Yorktown Central School District ascending school district and the Westchester School for Special Children as receiving school for the 2025 2026 school year. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education approves the revised PPS independent contract for Marie Comeny for August 27, 2025 to June 30, 2026. >> So move second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? A motion to approve the following Yorktown Congress of Teachers, Certified Teachers, and Certified Teaching Assistant Professional Improvement Program proposals. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> Uh motion to approve the following gifts, grants, and donations for the Yorktown High School. $965 from the Blackboard Giving Fund for Brookside. $1,000
075from the Brooks Brookside PTA for a first grade school trip to Yorktown stage. for Mohansic $,200 from the Mohansik PTA for a Star Lab assembly and for the district assorted school supplies for the district from the Elks Lodge 23 20 23 24 >> move second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Uh we'll go to board comments. Mike >> um nothing nothing large. I mean, it's exciting that we've got the construction started on uh Mohansik and Brookside. Uh I just saw earlier today we got approval uh to begin the fields project finally. So uh things are moving along and it's exciting. A lot going on on campus. Um and so thank you >> wanted to say thank you again to the middle school for coming out tonighting the good news. Um it was
076really nice to see an addition to our curriculum over the past few years really come to fruition. Um very impressive. Is this am I correct? This is year two for Yeah. So I was just really impressed with you know the program itself, the teacher, the students and how far they've come. So great job all around and uh thanks for coming out. >> Rashmi, >> I'm good. >> Catalina, >> I just want to reiterate what Cheryl said. It was amazing the middle school. Um, and the whole time I was trying to study to see where the palm in case they asked us to say our name. I was just going to say cat, but um, it was really nice to see that. And I know a lot of kids are really excited um, to take this
077class. >> I'm good. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, I just want to remind everyone that we still have a board vacancy. The letter of interest for that position with your CV or resume is due October 31st. And we encourage everyone who has an interest in the board of education. So, please please send something in. Anything? All right. Can I motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Have a good night.