001the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um we're going to begin this evening with a moment of silence for a departed employee. Would you like to make a few remarks? >> Yes, thank you. It's with a heavy heart that last week we announced the passing of Mrs. Charlotte Beaver who served as a principal account clerk in the business office. Charlotte joined Arlington in 2021 after a successful career as a paralegal. She was a beloved colleague and a friend to many. At this time, I ask those in attendance to join us in a moment of quiet reflection in her memory. Thank you. For Jessica, can you please call the roll? Brian Arnold Jennifer Boy Here. Linda
002Gaines Here. Jeff Hate >> Here. Sophia Bonay Hollis Donna Logan Here. Mary Ann Meeden Here. Eileen Snook Here. Mary Ann Quinn Here. Me and Nuso Here. Item A, the reading of the district mission. Our mission is to empower all students to be self-directed lifelong learners who willingly contribute to their community and lead passionate, purposeful lives. May I please get a motion for the approval of tonight's agenda? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Now we're going to move on to the public budget hearing. Um So, I'd like a motion to open the public budget hearing, please. So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um any discussion? This point anybody in the public would like to Let me vote first to open it.
003Sorry, my bad. Um all those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion open. Motion passes and the public budget hearing is now open. Anyone in attendance that would like to make any comments about our budget is welcome to come to the podium now. You don't have to sign in. Okay, seeing none, may I please get a motion to close the public budget hearing? So moved. Thank you. >> Second. Thank you. Um all those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Um correspondence. Does anybody have any correspondence they like to share? Are we good, Devin? I. I'm always I'm always happy if we're not good. Okay. Um Anybody else have any correspondence they like to share? Okay, then I'm going to move on to board president's remarks. Welcome. It's so nice to see
004so many people joining us here this evening. Um we are um I actually have something here out of the ordinary. I have a Oh, it Francesca, can you record that um Brian Arnold has arrived to the meeting? So, he's here for attendance purposes. Um You know, I'm happy to report that that for a long time our board has been very good as much as our staff is with uh professional development. And um but in particular, I would say this board has really focused on attending things beyond these meetings and really learning what we need to do to do a good job here. Um and for some of those events some some yes, some no, but the events sponsored by NISBA, they kind of keep track of how many things you're going to and they've sent
005some awards tonight to some of our board members for some milestones they've reached in their professional development careers. First I have for here, um, I have one for Jennifer Boyd. And it is a level two excellence award, which uh, will give you recognition in our onboard newspaper and this certificate of recognition. So, please help me congratulate Jennifer. >> [applause] >> Um, and then we have, um, we have, um, Sophia Ben Hallis, who's not here this evening, so she is receiving a level one board achievement award and I'm going to save that for our next meeting and have an opportunity to give that to her in person. >> [applause] >> And then, um, Dr. Gaines, we have a level three board mastery award for you. Okay. >> [laughter] >> She's so exciting. She's going to receive
006one of the lovely portfolios, which is, you know, kind of like when you've been the big prize at the carnival, right? So, um, uh, in the board excellence program recognition, uh, at you, uh, we will receive recognition in the onboard newspaper and the following items, um, a certificate for a free one-day event, um, excluding convention, and then certificate of recognition and a commemorative, oh, now we know what it's called, padfolio. It's a padfolio. So, congratulations. >> [applause] >> Congratulations. Oh, you're all right. I am hanging in there. And then last but not least, we have to my left here, Mrs. Quinn. Mary Ann Quinn. I would like to congratulate her for reaching the level four lifetime achievement award. >> [laughter] [applause] >> All right. Um this is NISBA's highest award level and qualifies for the
007following. Um a certificate for free registration to the convention. Um a certificate of recogni- a commemorative plaque and an executive pen and pencil set. I don't [clears throat] know if this is it. There's only a pen, but But here, this is all for you. This is all for you. Do I have to get an office now? I don't know. Like what do you do with the award? I don't know, but I think that there's like a little thing in there that you give to Francesca and and she'll register you for the convention. Yes. And that's a fair amount of money saved. Wow, she holds up for the folks at home. See, this is this is where like as a retired human you think, I better get myself an office. There you go. There's got [applause]
008to be some place to hang it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> And you know, it it kind of all builds as you're here for different years, you know, you have an opportunity to attend different things and but but the most important thing is that we value that and we value it in our staff and we value it in ourselves cuz it helps with the work that you do, right? So, congratulations to everybody and uh thank you so much for your willing participation in all these wonderful things. So, let's give her a big applause. >> [applause] >> And I think that that will do it for my remarks for tonight. We'll move on to superintendent remarks. Thank you. Mrs. Quinn bringing home the hardware. I guess, right? >> As they say.
009>> Way to like go home tonight and be like Well, and that's a that's a nice benefit to the district actually actually because >> us money. Saved us money on your registration for the convention. Which is fair enough. >> I'm shuffling off to Buffalo. There you go. >> [laughter] >> There you go. Right? Yeah, you got to shuffle. You said shuffle before you were going to say it. You got to You got to show up to uh I don't know if there's a way You can you Yes, if you but you if you have to use it this year, but make sure you don't lose that little paper. I would not. Congrats again to our trustees. Uh I'll echo your remarks that the commitment to uh your professional learning sets a a positive example for
010our faculty and staff who I know take their professional learning very seriously as well. So, thank you, Mary Ann, for that. Uh just a few updates for me, and then I I know we'll uh soon get to the Knoxon Road reflections. Uh no update on the state budget. I think at last count, I think we're on our 11th budget extender. We are on number 11. It's good until the 14th, which is only Thursday, so we'll see. Uh so, that being said, I am seeing and Kevin and I have talked uh that most are assuming a 2% increase to foundation aid at this point given what folks are hearing out of Albany, which is good. That's the figure that Kevin and I uh included in the uh recommended budget in the budget that the board adopted.
011So, I know there was a good question from one of our trustees, what if uh the the state we only get 1% uh in state aid, what will we do? Uh but it does seem uh like 2% is going to be the increase in foundation aid. Uh I will say through discussions with uh DD Barrett's office as well as uh State Senator Hinchey's office, uh the special legislation that we were seeking for uh to increase the cost allowance for the West Road project is likely not to be included in this year's budget, but we do seem I'm optimistic at least to be in a good position for that cost allowance. Uh you'll recall we were looking for uh some exceptions to be made uh long-term because we were closing Trevor Road School and adding on
012to West Road School that we should receive increased aid on that West Road project because it's state aid that would not be applied to Trevor Road with the school closure. So while that will not be included in this year's state budget, I do feel confident after discussion with discussion [clears throat] with our legislators legislators, excuse me, that it will be included in next year's budget. And there was a piece in the background here with respect to the approval of the West Road project at SED which we don't have yet and they were looking for that. So we're in the process it does take a lot of back and forth between the architects and SED to get final approval on the project. We have it for LaGrange which is what we positioned to be first. We
013do not yet have that for West Road but likely will by the end of the summer and then we'll just pick up the process with our legislators in the fall and that's okay because the state aid kicking in on the project anyway for a couple of years. So we're we're in a good position there. So just an update for the board on that. The school budget vote is next week just a reminder to the community and all those in attendance and who are watching at home. The communicator is in the mail. Thank you Melissa. Did a great job with the communicator this year and thank you Mary Ann for reviewing it. So be on the lookout for that in your mailboxes and the budget video I think is posted as of today. So that's out
014there and we had a great I think a very informative community forum last week with about 40 or so of our community members where we sought their feedback on what's been proposed in the budget and they gave us some great feedback. Thank you again Mary Ann for being present for that and it was a good group. So we'll continue to consider how we can bring together members of the community to provide us feedback on on school matters in the year ahead. And the last thing I wanted to mention many of our board members if not all had the chance to meet Ms. Shantenay Windett who I believe is still here. Shantenay wave you're in the third row there yeah. Shantenay is going to is a rising senior at Arlington High School and she is going
015to be our ex-officio student board member next year. So we still have time left with Mia and we're still have a celebration for Mia plan coming up. So we don't want to say goodbye just yet but in our planning we have Shantenay who is going to fill this role next year. So welcome to Shantenay and I know she's here with her mom. >> [applause] >> I I hope you don't mind but Mia had some great perspective she offered Shantenay when we met earlier that it's really interesting. The budget presentations can get a little you know a little boring after a while. So but she connected if you're taking economics next year which you will be I thought this was really good. You're going to appreciate you're going to see the connections to some of the
016things that you learn in economics. I thought that was great perspective and you're probably not the only one in the room who thinks the budget presentations can get a little you know a little dry over time. So no but thank you for being such a great support to Shantenay and welcome Shantenay we look forward to having you at the table next year. And that concludes my report. Thank you so much. That moves us on to public comment items for a gent. >> me. What oh Mia. Don't forget me. How could I do that? I did that before. Mia can we please have your report? Yeah I don't I don't have too much from last time we met but I just wanted to congratulate all the teams that are now moving into the sectionals this upcoming
017week. Flag football we are moving into the sectionals. We were first in the section for a while until Scarsdale beat us by 0.003 of a point. Mhm. Uh But we did we did win the league, so that's super exciting. And our first sectional game is on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. on the maroon field at Arlington against Wappingers. And I'm not sure if all the other teams regular seasons are over, but I know the girls golf is and they were also league champions. So, that's very exciting. And then just a few things with student government. We're now campaigning started yesterday, I want to say. Yeah, yesterday. So, it's been very fun to see everyone's flyers around the school. And I guess student government must run in the family cuz my brother is running for a position
018as well. So, I'm super excited for him, too. And I'm excited to see everyone campaign. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for me at today? Okay, seeing none. And apologies for uh almost skipping you over there. Um uh let's move on to item seven, public comment for agenda items. Do we have anyone tonight for public comment? >> We don't have anyone for public comment tonight. Okay. Um that moves us to reports and discussions, Noxon Road Elementary School. >> [laughter] >> Yes, sir. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Um Good evening, President Meedan, Dr. Benante, Board of Education members, and community colleagues as well. Welcome to Noxon Road Elementary School. Oh, and Mia as well. Um welcome to Noxon Road Elementary School. We are truly grateful for the opportunity to share and hear your feedback
019about the work that fuels us in a school that often feels more like home for the students we know are proudly the future. As principal, one of the greatest privileges of my role is the opportunity to walk through classrooms, collaborate with staff, students, and community members, and help lead conversations around instructional practices that have the potential to positively impact both our students and our broader community. As I move throughout this school each day, I see clear and consistent evidence of one of our most important core values. A community thrives when all members embrace their interdependence with compassion and empathy. This is not simply a statement hanging on the wall or words printed on laminated cardstock, although it is. Um, it is something alive within the culture of a transformational school. It can be seen in
020the way students encourage one another and in the way in which staff members collaborate to solve problems and learn from and with each other. It can also be seen in the intentional ways we work to ensure that every child feels valued, heard, and connected. One particularly meaningful example of this value in action at Knox on Road emerged through our wellness um through analysis of our wellness data. As we carefully reviewed the feedback from our students, two responses um two responses stood out and challenged us to think deeply as educators and as a community. Many students indicated uncertainty around these two statements. One, people here notice when I'm good at something, and two, students in this school take my opinion seriously. Their responses became more than data points. They became a call to action. Together we
021reflected on what this feedback revealed about the experiences of our students and about the explicit instruction and opportunities we needed to create in order to strengthen student voice and connection. From those conversations a plan began to take take shape. The development of a peer mentorship program grounded in empathy, communication, and authentic human connection. We knew that if we wanted students to feel seen, heard, and valued, we needed to not only intentionally teach those skills, but also create meaningful opportunities to practice them and get feedback. The work began >> and fifth graders our fifth graders with guidance and acceptance through partnerships The students their interests, individual strengths, and areas they identified for improvement. At the same time, our fifth graders engaged in learning which give them a real a real-life relevant scenario. They explored how to
022listen actively how to connect >> Go. different how to celebrate the unique qualities and voices of others. Then came the moment where learning transformed into relationship. Each fifth grader was paired with a third grader to mentor and the magic has been happening ever since. What we have witnessed through these partnerships has been powerful. We have seen younger students grow in confidence because older students are listening intentionally to them and recognizing their strengths. While also thoughtfully supporting the areas that they want to work on to grow and improve. We've watched connections form that would have never existed otherwise. We've seen students begin to understand that being part of a community means recognizing that we all need one another. And the work did not stop When our student council leaders and students learned about the peer mentorship
023initiative, they wanted to help amplify the message and extend it its impact across our entire school community. Their response was the creation of me to we week, a celebration designed to provide every student with opportunities to showcase their talents, share artifacts, interests, passions, and individuality. The message behind this week was both simple and profound. When every me is seen, heard, and valued, we build a stronger we. Throughout the week, students celebrated one another's creativity, talents, and perspectives. They were reminded that strong communities are built not through sameness, but through embracing one another's uniqueness. Students learned that their voices matter and that everyone has something meaningful to contribute. This work extended to our families as well through our growing scholars program. It's for incoming kindergarten and current kindergarten parents. This is a series where we shared
024our wellness data findings and student responses to those two key questions. We highlighted how student voice led to the creation of our peer mentorship program and reinforced the important role that families play in helping children build empathy, connection, and a sense of belonging. Most meaningful was that the experience itself allowed for families to gather together to listen, to learn from one another, and from current research, and share perspectives. In doing so, they modeled the very skills we've been seeking to instill in our students, collaboration, empathy, and valuing all voices. Data-driven, intentional work, thriving as we embrace interdependence with compassion and empathy. Thank you again for being here tonight, for your time visiting our school yesterday, and for your ongoing support of the students and staff at Knox End Road. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Dr.
025Murray. As you mentioned, we had a wonderful wonderful visit to the school. Was it yesterday? It seemed like yeah, it was yesterday. Yeah, so at this point I have some reflections I'll share, but just would like to open it up to the group of those who had the opportunity to visit the school to share a little bit about what they saw and reflections that they have. All right, Eileen. Well, you got me thinking, Kelly. >> [laughter] >> Um we the board shares a text chain and last week we were talking about the anxious generation. Quite a few of us are are reading or have read it. Um and I was listening to it last night and I was in the part where they're talking about children really need to have their their own efficacy and
026they need to take responsibility for themselves. And so like what a day to be listening to that and you see this mentor program. But what really struck me was the way that you approached it because when I looked at the when I look at these two indicators and on equity we've looked at them a lot, so I thought you know, I think oh, this is this is what should happen and I know I would have come to come approached it teacher down. I would have thought it's really up to the teachers to to make sure that the kids know that they're good at something. But really you took it in the right direction, right? To [clears throat] that the the students need to know that they're good and how do you do that? Student music
027student. And so you know and then at listening to it again now, it's really complex what you've done with it and it's the thinking is is really in the right direction, the place that you want to be. So I just want to really I really thought about that and I really want to commend you for that. >> Thank you so much. That I'm Dr. Dr. John Orcutt led our equity leaders Katie McCann and Aaron Gargano in analysis of the data and when they came back and we talked about it, our first instinct was actually to we were thinking more along the lines of kindness. If our kids aren't feeling valued and aren't feeling like they get the opportunity to share, is it because kids just aren't being very nice? They're not being welcoming. But as
028we talked through it further, we realized, well, how how have they been explicitly taught how to express who they are? Right? And role play with feedback from each other. You know, who better to say, "I don't understand what you're saying. Can you help me understand?" than their peer? So, you know, Mrs. McCann was really integral in creating the opportunities for role playing within the library. Um but the work really came from the analysis template that that Mr. Orcutt used with the equity leaders or the wellness leaders. So, thank you, though. We appreciate it. Marian. So, first I would just want to thank and your building, but every building that we have visited this year, um all the teachers who just welcome this band of people that comes tromping into your classroom, um cuz it's a
029it's a wonderful opportunity for us to move away from this setting and into your setting so that we can make sense of the work that we're trying to do up here. Um I am particularly enamored with your growing scholars um program. I think helping parents have a venue to share, um what their new kindergartner is going to be approaching ahead of time, um is is really great. Um and I think we had a good conversation yesterday around the table afterwards about, you know, ways that we can begin to think about how can that expand >> [clears throat] >> so that more people can take um advantage of such a a great idea. So, I think you've got people thinking your building in general about a lot of things. So, we appreciate that. And thanks for
030the visit. Yeah, thank you. As I look out here I I can there's five people sitting here that presented. So, we're able to make it a series when people have ideas, create part of the presentation, and then are willing to be in front of families and and present to them. So, thank you. I'm glad you guys got to see it. And on that note, can you describe that a little bit more for people who weren't there and people who are listening cuz I thought it was great to have kindergartener kindergarten parents or incoming kindergarten parents Yeah. be involved already. Yeah, so we started it about four years ago, and we targeted only incoming kindergarten um families. So, the parents and the students that would be our incoming kindergartners. And we just we we thought about
031it like professional development, professional development for parents and for us at the same time because we're collaborating with parents, hearing their feedback um about uh within our presentations. So, we um you know, we create a letter. I put a a draft of the letter in your folder um a- and we invite our incoming kindergarten parents and their children to come. And it's a series. So, I think this year we have maybe eight or nine um events over the course of the year. We started in January. Um and we have a different topic each time. So, the topics really come from staff, things that we find ourselves talking to kids about a lot, things that we find ourselves saying I you know, I we've had these conversations with parents or parents have come to us asking
032for help and support with these topics. Um and so then we just kind of break it up and you know, somebody will be sharing something that came up and and we'll say that that would be a great Growing Scholars presentation. Go ahead. Um and we just have a running Google Doc. We create the presentation. We try to have updated research, um, you know, to support the things that we're sharing with our families. And then our families come in, they bring their incoming kindergartner. Um, Miss Tien created badges for them. They're kindergartners in training. And um, we we do the same thing each time. So, the kids start off in the library, they listen to a story. So, it's an opportunity to meet different staff members. Staff members will rotate through reading. And then the kids
033go in and they're hosted in a different location within our school. So, they've been everywhere from art to first grade to fourth grade and everywhere in between when they come, the incoming kindergartners. And um, the parents stay in the library and a different staff member will present each time on a topic. So, we've presented on growing a love of literacy. We've presented on um, emotion coaching strategies to use when your children are having meltdowns. Um, we've presented on um, language acquisition and play or one on the 27th, which will be our last one for this year, is going to be on um, it's from our physical therapist and our occupational therapist and they're going to be talking to them about the importance of play and development. So, every time we do a ticket out the
034door where the families can um, rate our success in terms of the three areas that were our goals, which are the kids become comfortable coming into our school, the parents get to network with each other, and we all get to learn together in one room. Um, and they also get to list ideas that um, they'd like us to think about for future presentations, things of interest to them. So, that's how it works. Just the way you said that I actually wondered since you've been doing it for 4 years, have any parents ever come back to you and said, do can you keep it going? I need to know how to handle my second grader or my >> [laughter] >> I think it's more therapy for all of us as parents as we're presenting, you know,
035hearing them. But, and maybe it was even longer cuz I heard you say um, Katie that when you were a parent in our community, not as an employee yet. That's how she came into our school was as a part of Growing Scholars. Something Yeah, we started it as we called it Together Improving Performance. We called it something different back then, but yeah. That's great. Um Donna. Um I just wanted to just briefly say that I really loved the visit. I just was um comments were great. Just sort of um just add on. I just was really impressed by your staff just interacting with the with the kids. Uh I just felt warmth and just even like when when when um one teacher was working really closely with a couple students on phonics. They just like,
036you know, pushing these kids and they were just having they like they were responding and smiling and felt supported and I could could see that they they were being lifted up, you know, so even when they were doing hard work, it was you know, I just I like that energy. Just seeing kids talking and just responding. Um I just really like the feeling and and like seeing the the kids working so well with with your staff. Thank you so much. That's And so much I mean so much work you're putting into these programs and planning and come up and coming up with these ideas in response to the survey. It's just a lot of effort and and it's terrific. Thank you. Thank you so much. You know, we've seen different things in different buildings that
037we've gone to um and I really enjoyed the visit as well. Um you know, we were we went for a few minutes into a fifth grade class. It was a co-taught class with Mrs. McMaster and Mrs. Wilshire. And the thing that I noticed um there specifically is they were actually both teaching at the same time to different groups of kids with like a sort of a invisible line down the middle. And I was sort of watching I was sitting in the on the invisible line and I was like looking back and forth and um and you know, the thought crossed my head, wouldn't they love to be in different spaces? And then another thought crossed my head, you know what? It's so when I watch these kids on both sides of this line, they were
038engaged. And I thought how powerful it is that we're we're teaching them how to pay attention when there are distractions around them and other things going on. Like it's very easy to be in a bubble and with your phone and you know, but in the real world you need to be it's the muscle you have to is how do you continue to pay attention when other things are going on. And and they had done that. I mean clearly the kid we that's what we witnessed. We witnessed those kids paying attention to their respective lesson. And um and I thought that was great. I thought that was powerful to watch. So, uh I just wanted to give that a shout out among all the other things that we saw. The The Growing Scholars is a is
039a um is something we haven't seen before. Uh I would it was edifying to me that they were it wasn't a an enormous group of parents. It was maybe I don't know, 10. But there were three fathers there. I think that um I know in my neighborhood you see dads on bus stops more regularly than back in the you know, horse and buggy days when my kids were here. But um but you know it it's such a wonderful thing for children to see that, too. And for children to see the degree of commitment of of their whole support group toward their education, you know? And um so I thought I thought that was was terrific. Yeah. So. Anybody have any other comments at this point? I'll share a couple things if that's okay, perhaps in
040closing. Uh yeah, uh Dr. Murray, it was a an excellent visit. I The Growing Scholars program really is probably what I walked away with seeing and how you described it in creating that shared sense of responsibility and alignment between families and educators I think is particularly impactful. And ideally we talk about family engagement a lot and that could be reflected through many ways, but there's definitely something right happening in the way that the program's currently operating here. Overall, I just wanted to speak for a moment to the visit. I really appreciated how you just set it up in that we we went a little academic to start, right? Let's talk about research and what is suggestive of what works in schools. And that can be a bit technical. But you did a great job, I
041think, explaining and talking through how you're applying that research base and obviously just digging into that with the staff so we can all process and develop a shared understanding around it. And then what this looks like in classrooms. And I just want to highlight that the goals around increasing students' sense of agency in in their school community, like the actual social emotional component of the school, which you spoke to, and then also their learning was really evident. And I particularly appreciated their their goal setting and how they are monitoring the evidence that we saw in the classrooms. And you filled in some gaps cuz it's not always evident of how they're monitoring their progress towards their goals. Was again just just really, I think, insightful and helped us get a glimpse in not just to
042the research cuz we hear about research a lot and read about research in you know, magazines or periodicals that come our way. But seeing how that's now being applied in a classroom setting. So you did that and then let's go see it, right? And we saw family engagement. We saw our kids setting goals for themselves and then then monitoring their goals. All was really um really in evidence and and and particularly impactful. I close with just for you and your staff. You can often someone told me long time ago you can measure how a community's doing by by how their its children are doing. Right? That that if you look at how the kids are doing in a community, not just a school community, a community outside of a school at all as well, excuse
043me, You You get a sense for the health of that community. And I I walked away uh feeling that the children at Knoxson Road are being cared for. Every child looked cared for. And when you examine each classroom setting, every child was engaged. And you got the sense that the teacher or staff was really attuned to the needs of their their students. That was reflected in their instruction, but also about how the kids were showing up within the classroom setting and within the school environment. So, kudos to you and your your team here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Um that brings us to the new business section of the agenda. Our new business section of the agenda lists several items for individual resolution approval. Documentation concerning these
044items have been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review. Item B, certified tenure recommendations. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? If I may. Yes, please. Uh now, we have a designated uh board meeting or event prior to a board meeting where we say [clears throat] all sorts of nice things about our tenure candidates and and our retirees, and that's coming up. So, I won't go into great detail uh now. Meena nudged me before and said it's no no reports. It should be a short meeting, right? [laughter] So, I I I want to But, I did want to just take a moment to speak to um uh the candidacy of Jennifer Hammon King and and Mike Keeley. The board I
045think knows Mike pretty well. I just want to uh point out Jen's right in the front row here. Hi, Jen. Um Jennifer has been uh instrumental. If there's one thing I just want to speak to this evening with respect to Jennifer, is uh you often will hear me talk about the great success we have had in expanding our pre-K program uh inside of Arlington, and I think we all feel really good about it. If that could be attributed to any one individual, which it's never about one individual, but if we could attribute it to one individual, it's it's Jennifer behind the scenes. No one knows more about pre-K, the rules and regulations around pre-K, and then also the person who has all the relationships with our providers, with our buildings where we're hosting pre-K programming,
046and then all the support that goes into making that a reality. It's Jennifer. So, just one thing of many things that I just wanted to highlight with respect to Jennifer's tenure candidacy, and then Mr. Keeler Dr. Keely over here. As you know, we were reminded earlier this school year, Mike was recognized as the Niskayuna outstanding leader of the year, which is a state organization. He's a recognized leader in his in his field. And and one thing that Mike spoke to just probably a couple months ago as part of a budget presentation that I know he's very proud of and we're very proud of is how he's opened the technology cooperative at Arlington High School as part of the work-based learning program there. So, really connecting kids who may be interested in technology in some way,
047shape, or form to real-world experiences in a school setting is something that I know he's really proud of and we're really proud of as well. Again, one of many things, but we'll have time to celebrate these individuals more in the weeks ahead. So, both come with the highest recommendation to receive tenure this evening. >> [clears throat] >> Great. Well, then let's do it. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Item C, Civil Service Settlement Agreement. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Item D, Civil Service abolishment of position. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in
048favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. Item E, election personnel for the 2026 annual budget vote and school board election coming next week. Um may I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstentions? I should have said this during discussion, but thank you to all the people working on our election. Um it's a it's a wonderful thing to support the election process both locally and in our country. Item F, RFP award Primepay. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um all any discussion? All those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion passes. Item G, the Palumbo Group contract. May I please get a motion? So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Um any
049discussion? I'll just mention to the board all of the board members by now are familiar with the individuals who we work with for the Palumbo Group to manage the construction project. Some more so than others. To manage the work we anticipate doing at LaGrange and West Road School. Your action tonight extends our engagement with them to include phase three, which will be the work that comes after LaGrange and West Road School. Great. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. That moves us on to the business consent agenda. Our consent section of the agenda lists several items for approval by a single motion. Documentation concerning these items have been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review. May I please get
050a motion for the uh consent agenda? >> So moved. Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. Any comment or discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Opposed? Abstention? Motion passes. This is the part me I was waiting for where I flipped through 20 pages without saying anything. >> [laughter] >> Okay. That brings us up to for me page 44, future discussion items. I don't have any future discussion items from previous meetings that we need to go over. Does anybody have anything they want to put forward at this time? Seeing none, moving on. Do we have no public comment? Okay. That brings us to committee reports. First, we have advocacy. Well, Dr. Benante let the cat out of the bag. Imagine that we do not still have a state budget. We're on the 11th extender. Goes
051through Thursday. Um one maybe bright possible spot is the possible inclusion um of something on our zero emission buses that they're hoping is at least honoring the fact that we seem to lack the infrastructure to pull this off in the fashion that the governor originally gave us in terms of deadlines and that maybe everything will be pushed back about five years. Um so, [clears throat] fingers crossed that that shows up when all these bills start, you know, running through. Um which hopefully is soon since they're By Thursday, they're going to have to figure out a plan. Is there a record for the number of extenders they can have? I know, but this is the latest budget >> [clears throat] >> since 2010, I think they pointed out to us today. So, you know, we're really
052pushing up against the fact that we are voting next week and in the ether somewhere there's there's money that, you know, we should see coming our way. Um that's really about it right now for advocacy. Thank you. Audit. The audit committee met before this meeting and we discussed two things two reports. We had the annual risk assessment report, which is one that we do just for our own purposes. And um there was no no increase in risk in any of the 28 audit areas since last year. Um and there were several items with recommendations from last year and they have been addressed. They were minor though. Uh the second thing was every year uh we do a uh an official internal audit and this year was a facility use audit. So, for this one um
053there were no significant observations, no red flags, which is great. Uh there were three observations with recommendations, kind of tightening up some of the documentation about groups using the facilities and uh using the the software a little more efficiently. Uh so, that's um So, correction actions uh have been developed and we'll be seeing them uh for board review at the next meeting. Great. Thank you very much. Um Kathy. >> Nothing at this time. Okay. Policy. [clears throat] Um uh we're meeting tomorrow, 3:00 p.m. Okay. Um organization reports. Um [clears throat] Arlington Education Foundation. I I there, but I'm told that if there was a successful 5K. Did you go, Dr. Volante? I was there. I believe Fran Jackson was there, too. I walked, Fran ran. >> [laughter] >> I'll I'll ask you about the course
054later. >> [clears throat] >> Um They had over 100 registrants and it was at a new location, so they learned a lot and there's things to clean up for next year and I thought overall ran no pun intended, it went really well. Oh, good. Yeah, a little rain at the end, which isn't a But I heard, yeah. >> seem to get rain. Yeah, but didn't they comment on the arrows that were drawn? Like Did they comment on the arrows? >> I helped do the arrows. Okay, were they Were they good comments? Were they good comments? And they were negative comments. They were negative comments. >> [laughter] >> There's a commendation coming. You two could get a plaque. We There was no misdirection. We followed the arrows. [laughter] You. Um Well done. And the next meeting
055is June 3rd. Great. Oh, and if you're interested, the scholarship breakfast is the 29th 8th 28th. 28th. I think we all have received an invitation to that if we're interested in going. Um Uh let's see. Dutchess County School Boards. I just had a moment there. >> Yeah, that's okay. I'm I'm I got it here. Um We met last Thursday evening via Zoom. Um So interesting addition to the agenda was um Mark Volante uh spoke about in this coming school year's big read through the library system is actually going to be presenting a play called The Faithful Hour that was written by a local retired judge. Those of you that are long in the tooth as I am would know that Al Rosenblatt was a local judge. Um and the the topic is the ratification of
056the US Constitution that actually occurred in New York State in Poughkeepsie at the courthouse because Kingston had burned and we became the um capital of New York for a brief period of time. So, anyway, it's a particularly targeted towards our junior classmen who are working on American history at that point in time. So, they're hoping to have the play um at the Bardavon for all Dutchess County 11th grade students to be able to view. So, it was it was a nice bright spot of something different that we don't normally get to talk about at the Dutchess County school board. So, I I found it very interesting and I think um Mark is a champion of like really wanting that to go well. So, hopefully it all comes together. Um the rest of the meeting was
057spent with the various districts just reviewing their budgets um just more as an overview in terms of um you know, were they staying within their tax levy cap, you know, what kind of pitfalls have they had given the fact that we're waiting on money and so on and so forth. Um and then just the reminder that next month um the June meeting is in person. So, I know that um Fran has sent something out to us um as board members. Everyone's invited. Um it's being held in Arlington area at My Restaurant um on June 4th and it starts at 6:00 6:00 p.m. I think. Is that I think it's 6:00. Anyway, so Thursday night on June 4th. Um and then I'll segue right into BOCES if that's okay. So I can just >> be done
058and then I can sit back and um Jody just really was very brief cuz we were running a bit long. Um just wanted to thank all the districts for the unanimous support of the BOCES budget and for electing our their two new board members. Um And then she just the only other thing that she highlighted is to remind everyone that all are invited to the annual community summit which is the partnership in action expanding opportunities for students together. That is on June 2nd which would make that a Tuesday evening. I believe, right? If the 4th is a Thursday. At 6:00 p.m. and it's in the Dutchess BOCES Conference Center and I think if you're interested May Fran has some info on that and she can RSVP for you. >> [snorts] >> You know, we've been
059invited to that in previous years. It says that we have. Yeah, but I I've not attended that. So I I can't speak to it. Um >> [clears throat] >> But we were hoping to get what I don't think we have in our calendar yet is the graduations for BOCES. I have those dates. They did provide us with a lovely little all BOCES dates. Um Can we maybe just let's like check a few of those off and decide which ones we we can have added to our calendar. >> But yes, I have a a cheat sheet that will help us with those. >> Um they've two usually, right? They have a CTI graduation and CTI the alternative high school, the resilience academy. >> Resilience, right. >> Yeah, okay. >> CTI is on June 11th. Okay. And
060that's at the Nashua Convention Center. And the resilience is on June 24th. That's a daytime, 12:00 p.m., and that's in the conference center at BOCES. Okay. Um there are a couple on here that have little asterisks, which are by invitation only, but the rest of them are Okay. >> the general public. And that that's that for those two organizations. >> have students that graduate from their programs. >> Correct. Okay, that moves us to PTA PTSA Council. I want to thank them for they moved our meeting because so we could be to the honor key on Wednesday. We met previous to that on the Monday, and um Dr. Beranate did a as quick as he possibly could summary the budget cuz so many of them had had listened to some of his presentation before, but we
061got some interesting feedback from them, too. They're a very engaged group, um and I always love hearing what they've got going on. They've kind of streamlined their presentations on that, but it's always great to hear how they're sharing ideas with each other. I don't think everyone has a council, um every district has a council, and I think it's a real a real benefit to our to our district. Um the next meeting is next Wednesday, I believe. Uh the 20th, right after the election. And um is it on here? I don't need to guess. Look at that. It's right on here. I don't need to guess. So um and that's virtual. All right, and that brings us to district health and safety. We are meeting on Thursday. Okay. Uh 8:00 a.m. central office. All right. Um
062and district equity. Uh we met this past Thursday, the 7th. Um there's a pretty extensive share. There's always a lot going on. Um we talked about in um Trevor West, Arthur S. May and Titusville, their um cultural fairs or cultural celebrations. I know a lot of us went, not me, to to Arthur S. May. Actually, I did go to the cultural fair. Um and had a lovely time and ate lots of yummy desserts. It was wonderful. Um there was also a lot of talk. We've talked about how many of the schools are doing [clears throat] um The Anxious Generation in some form of book club. Um the high school did a different book club. They read a book called There's No Place for Us that focuses on students that um don't have permanent homes, that
063are unhoused. And they had a speaker come from Hudson River Housing. Um and they it they talked about how it just really informed um their thinking around students that are in this vulnerable place. Um the uh LMS did a mini equity panel. Many of us saw the big equity panel, but they did it for their school. Um the out of The Anxious Generation has come a couple of things. Um Titusville is making no tech during indoor recess. It's really easy to pull up computers and let kids play games, and they've decided maybe that's not the best use of that recess time. Um and Bell Farm has some of the teachers this year are using something called Let Them Grow, which is a framework for um you do it through homework, where students are assigned once
064a month to spend about 15 minutes doing something independent that they wouldn't normally do. So, it may be doing a household chore, cooking the meal for your family, it may be doing laundry, it may be going down to the corner store by yourself without an adult taking you there if the parents are willing to do that. And then they come back and share um what they've done. And as a result of that, they're hoping to have that grow more through the school, but they're also looking for ways to incorporate more play into to the school day. Again, they were a school that spent a lot of time with their community doing anxious generations, so it grew out of that. Um and then the bulk of the time was actually spent on looking at the belonging
065survey, and it's um you know, you can see through the presentation we had tonight what happens when you really target look at the indicators that are are not where you want them to be and then target in a way that you can and that's what all the schools are looking to do, looking at their targets and then um trying to figure out the best plan to address that. Do they ever go back like after they've done like if they because they've been looking at these this data and I know that various interactions, you know, various interventions have been used in the past. Is there ever any a reflection or a sharing on what has worked as far as actually um the intervention piece? You know, do you know? Is that maybe that's an unfair question,
066but >> Yeah, it it hasn't happened. You know, I can say anecdotally because like I often I know some members of the the equity team and often I go out with them afterwards and that'll be part of the conversation. Um so I hear from from different people in different schools in that way. Um John, we haven't really done it formally, right? Uh Sorry, Mia. I know this you were hoping to get out of here. Uh [laughter] It's not even eight. It's not even eight. I promise I won't have any reflections. Um I I don't think we've looked at it in the way that you're asking. We are what we're what I'm trying to steer our building equity work more towards this is our buildings are in different place places in terms of where they saw
067their wellness and belonging data. Certainly, from the district level, we can identify some patterns, but as we heard with Dr. Murray, um who I think would be willing to talk about some of how they've evaluated it. Those assessments are we're encouraging that to happen more within the buildings. Um so the the planning that they were working through wasn't just around the the wellness and belonging survey that we gave them. There was uh the notes from the student equity panel in there. There were There were some other We had our district goals in there that we were asking them to really look at all of our student information and the direction that we're moving as a district and look to align your building work and start thinking about your short-term action steps that you can take.
068We We started that work uh a couple months ago. What are some immediate things we can do to start addressing some of of what we're seeing in our data in support of the direction that we're moving as a district as well. And then what are longer-term steps? And so the longer-term steps that they were working through, and there's a form that they're filling out, and we're going to continue that work in our June meeting, is what we're going to be holding them accountable for uh in the following school year. So that that will be our constant check-in is where where are we in terms of our progress as a district, as buildings, towards our student sense of belonging, but also our academic achievement, our um engagement within schools, attendance, things along those lines. Thank you.
069I'm sorry, I didn't mean to like put you on the spot, but I'm glad to hear that you had the notes from the student equity panel. That was just such uh a well I've been to it in many years. It was a very rich um feedback from the students this year. And I think in part because of the way it was organized, I thought was very effective because the the students selected which question they really wanted to answer, which question resonated with them. I just thought there was a just an awful lot of of good stuff good stuff came from that good stuff. So, I'm glad to hear we've captured that stuff. So, um, all right Mia, I'm I'm going to stop talking now Mia. Okay, superintendent's closing remarks. She's got the power, man. >>
070Yeah. You only have a few weeks left and we want to make sure they're memorable. >> [laughter] >> Superintendent's closing remarks. >> have any, I'm sorry. >> [laughter] >> I was thinking of what I was going to say to Mia and so Okay, um, board reflections. Linda. Um, I attended the honor key a couple weeks ago. Um, it was excellent. Uh, congratulations to the students who received the honor key. Yep. [clears throat] Um, and for those who didn't, I mean, that's that's perfectly fine. Just get up every morning and do what makes you happy. And um, congratulations to all. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? Jeff. I want to acknowledge the our freshman four boat at states this weekend. Uh, placed third. Oh, good. >> in the scholastic division. All right. Congratulations. Anybody else? Eileen. Oh,
071and Mia's got one. See, now you can't complain. >> [laughter] >> I feel like I always do the in memoriums, but um, I just do want to mention the passing of Lorelei Hauptman. She's a retired uh, librarian. And through this year we saw really that the library job supports all of the literacy in in the building. Um, Lorelei was one of the best. She knew exactly what social studies and science unit you were doing and that's the work that they did in library. Um, so she passed away about a week ago. Um, retired I think in 2016. She was at LaGrange for most of her career and when LaGrange closed she went to West Road and finished her career there. Thank you. Mia. Um, I just wanted to mention something that I forgot to say
072in the beginning. Um, next week is senior spirit week. So on Monday we're wearing our senior shirts which can be bought in your house office, but they were also being sold during the pep rally, so some students already have them. Tuesday is bikers versus surfers. Um, Wednesday is dressed like your kindergarten self. Thursday is wear your college decision shirts and Friday's pajama day. And then additionally on Monday the 18th we have our prom table sign-ups. Um, so yeah, I don't I don't think any seniors are listening at home, but um, >> [laughter] >> maybe they are, so don't forget to sign up for your prom table. That's it. Okay. Anybody else? Then can I please get a motion to adjourn? So moved. >> Thank you. Second. Thank you. All those in favor, I. >> I.