001with libery and justice for all Mrs Flynn can you please call the rooll Jennifer boy here Linda Gaines here Jeff hate here Sophia Bonet Hollis Donna Logan here Maryanne Meen here Eileen snook here Marian Quinn here Mark tonor here thank you reing 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 can I please get a motion to approve tonight's agenda so moved I have a second second you guys got um any discussion seeing none all those in favor I I opposed abstentions MO passes um is it do can I can I coun yes then I think we need to speak it into the record then good good evening Sophia hi hi we're we're just going to quickly
002amend the roll call um to reflect that Sophia has joined us before we've really begun okay okay thank you thank you sir um moving on to correspondence um I don't have any um correspondence that fit any kind of a theme or that sort of thing um does anyone else have any correspondence like to share at this time okay board president remarks I don't have much tonight I I want to just um say again and in on this forum how much I enjoy the opening day event that that what you hosted and and and how much I enjoyed the student performances that were included which was uh hadn't really happened that way at least in my tenure here and I I thought it was really appropriate and I appreciate the kids who gave some of the
003end of their summer to practice those pieces and to be there for us I mean it really was moving and it fit the theme of what we were trying to achieve I just thought it was great and then thank you to everyone who made the first you know few days of school go so well um I know that everyone has slightly varying experiences but overall we we've we've really had a pretty positive experience opening School this year um and I hope that that is what happened for your family out there as well too um the only other thing I wanted to just take a quick minute to talk about is I believe that um I'm just going to do it now because I'm GNA just do it now um all board members should have received
004two emails regarding the um nisba area 9 director opening starting January 1st 2025 um and then in the middle of today we received a gentleman from I believe Middletown who would like to be considered um and he sent us his credentials and his background and his reason for interest I don't know if you've all had a chance to see that came in around one o'clock this afternoon the other the the opening came in a few days ago um you know basically um I guess I reading his letter I think it's much better that you have someone who's stepping forward has some excellent credentials versus them you know ringing arms of people to get somebody to be on it's extra work but he seems devoted to um nisba um and to students which is most important
005so I don't know if anybody wants to talk about that or has an opinion but the if we're going to support him it has to be by this Friday so um I just wondered if anybody minded if we he needs five districts to support him um we have not received any other people who are asking for our support um you know if people think it's important I can read some of the highlights of what he's got but I I don't know that it really is necessary to our meeting um does anybody have any questions or opinions or that you want to I mean this is our like last opportunity together at this point any thoughts I'm okay with supporting him so I think Sophia um there's a little guy with a on your but you
006have a button in front of you so if you want to speak you have to press the button yeah and then a little red light will come on which is the contrary of the logic no it is is exactly actually your little red light didn't come on though so I have not read the email okay so um so two or so on Monday September 9th we received an email saying that there's going to be an opening for so how nisba NIS nisba directors work is that they have representatives from each of the regions in the state we are area nine people um I think is it John Redmond John Redmond yeah he's our current area 9 person um and for whatever reason he cannot complete his term and then there's another two-year term after that
007I believe what happened is that he was no longer voted onto his board oh so therefore he can't serve in that capacity since he's not a sitting board member if I'm remembering the story correctly that's interesting it's interesting they're J they're letting him play out the year though but it was not John's wish okay have this um play out like this okay all right so so basically all the school districts in area 9 UM someone from one of those districts is going to be appointed as a director at niso which is the New York State School Board Association um so we got that a couple of days ago um and there's a whole process which the deadline is this Friday at 5 o' um to have a nomination in and I was just saying this
008gentleman wrote to us today um he's from uh the Middletown School District hold I didn't really highlight this hold on I don't really want to read the whole thing um having served on the enlarged City School District of middle Town Board of Education since 2013 including the last five years as president and curling as the intermediate as excuse me as the immediate past president I've dedicated my career to advancing educational equity and supporting the growth of our schools my deep passion for public education drives my commitment to transforming lives and communicates and communities through effective educational policies my active participation in the nisba community is evidenced by my attendance at every convention since 2013 additionally my work on the nisba diversity equity and inclusion committee and my involvement in the New York State Black Caucus
009of Schoolboard members have equipped me with an invaluable service advocating for initiatives that promote Student Success in addition to my service on the large city school district of Middletown Board of Education I also serve as the current president of the Orange County School boards Association my experience um I don't know um he's got three I'm going to just like paraphrase now he um he's got three kids currently in school he's got a nth grader and and two recent graduates um which he thinks informs his ability to bring good stuff to nisba um he'll be representing or if he if elected or selected he will be um representing orange ster suen dutches and green counties um and how that works is is if if there are not if there's only one candidate then he will be
010automatically appointed if not there will be a process to select um from the number of candidates but what he initially needs is to be nominated by five area boards and um and it says he reiterates that candidates must receive receive a minimum of five nominations from board members within the nominating area so um you know having read this um and sort of a little bit uh exposed to what nisba does for us which is a lot um I'm I'm actually really happy that they haven't had to start making phone calls and twisting arms candidly that they have somebody who really wants to step in and do this work which is really extra work and I'm sure quite a bit of extra work so I'm comfortable offering him our nomination but I certainly if people want
011um we don't need to really I don't think we can kind of straw pull I don't know I don't think we need like a vote on that and um so if anybody would prefer to be given 24 hours but that's really all we have is this week right so um does anybody want to have discussion I'll just stop now what's what's the term he's going to serve I believe it's two he's serving out this term he start he would start January 1 2025 and then a two-year term to December of 2027 so effectively three years I would be happy to support him I think you know I think he sounds like a good man and he's stepping up to do the job anybody else Mark Maran I'm comfortable okay Donna I am also okay all
012right so you want to just do quick show a hands all right great so then I'll find out what it takes maybe we'll draft a letter and we'll get on some letterhead and we'll get it out in the next day or so okay all right and I'll copy everybody on that when it goes out that concludes my remarks thank you my turn your turn sorry yes I should go yes next superintendent no no you're right now we had uh Mary and I appreciate you acknowledging the staff opening I think we had a a wonderful opening with our our staff it was great to see uh 1,200 people in the same room um and uh I think we set the right mood for the start of the school year and I appreciate your presence there as
013well as several of other of the board members who were able to make it uh I've had the chance to visit each of our 11 schools over the last few days some schools more than once now and I would say that I've been really impressed with uh the level of Engagement uh that's occurred or that I see in our classrooms already into the start of the school year between our staff uh our faculty and particular and our and our students and um I would this time of the year just one other note I wanted to make is when we're also facilitating many back to school nights for our families uh quite a few of those going on this week and and we have a core value that's related to that sense of interdependence and uh
014approaching such with compassion and empathy and I think that uh part of honoring that core value and modeling that occurs at in these early days of the school year especially when our parents are coming back onto our campuses and meeting with their child's classroom teachers and so much effort is uh being displayed by the school to open its doors to our families in particular and the extent uh that we go to make sure that all of our families feel uh welcome uh so I know that includes not just scheduling the night but also having translators available where they're they're needed uh again so families don't encounter that boundary uh to interacting with our our school staff uh where necessary um facilitating sessions at different times uh for our families because some families work uh uh
015during um uh second shift or third shift so we we accommodate them through other ways and then I know many of our teachers as well um set up time separate because some families just aren't able to make that evening and they're accommodating families at other times or other uh points through the first weeks of school week first week of schools weeks of school you know what I mean um and uh just wanted to express my appreciation for all the effort that's uh being displayed to welcome our families into the uh school year and our students obviously as well uh you may have heard or read about uh the Blue Ribbon Commission on graduation requirements and I just came uh from a regional session on that with other uh superintendents and school related Personnel I was
016actually there with uh Miss Hartman our guidance coordinator at Arlington High School and we actually have a team of Educators that are going to be attending other Regional events related to anticipated shifts and graduation requirements uh for high schoolers timeline yet to be uh defined but will be sometime this fall I know many of our board members are going to the nisba conference and I would encourage you if you're able to if there's I believe there's a couple of sessions related to this uh of just taking the time to learn a little bit about the shifts that we can anticipate being made or acted upon by the regions to change uh the high school graduation requirements and it's really uh compelling um shifts and uh I learned a little bit about them tonight I'd read
017some things all along and I know that there's more to come but we're at the point in this process this has been five years in the making uh where uh these are going to become more defined uh in the over the course of the school year so uh we have a good group of Arlington Educators that are uh learning right now and then we'll serve if you will as a uh a group to really examine what is the impact now on Arlington and what plans do we need to make to uh be prepared to make such ships at our high school was this one of the feedback sessions that they're holding this was it was the final It's the final set of feedback sessions that they're facilitating okay great which is a fairly scripted process
018if you've ever gone to one of these because the individuals are acting they want it to be assistant across the state where these feedback sessions are offered but it's great to talk to other Educators from the there's plenty of time to um check and connect about what you've heard thus far in the presentation uh they do honor it's a one and a half hour presentation board members are welcome to attend any of the regional sessions and I think Duchess bosis is hosting at least one more potentially I think there's there'll be one in Beacon there'll be another one um I believe on the Eastern side of the county but Duchess bosis has at least one more uh this month that they'll be host and I think I have some other items later on for discussion
019so that concludes my remarks for now thank you um public comment for agenda items only do we have anyone we do not have any thank you reports and discussions um item a board Workshop topics and draft schedule back on so I had heard when we met at the uh Retreat I heard from the board and I think Maryann and and Linda and I may have processed this a little bit more afterwards but uh different topics that the board was interested in receiving updates on or reports on over the course of the school year and just a a note for newer board members whenever a board meeting takes place at one of our schools the building principal and his or her team will usually facilitate some sort of building update uh report which I want to
020talk about a little bit tonight because I need to guide them in that work so you'll note here I tried to draft out a schedule uh I noting a building report if we're in a building for that particular meeting uh but also other reports that I believe are either required by policy um or the board is used to receiving a report on or has come up over the last couple of years as I um see it there could be more uh and have mapped those out here on the um uh on some sort of schedule um one other note I wanted to make is that I also included updates from our architect assuming that the board would want to hear or have some sort of routine status update from tetratech as they're moving along in
021the planning process for the capital project so I believe I put four of those on uh let's see and then there's other pilot programs that we've been implementing that I thought it was important that the board have an update on as we determine expand ending or making any other decisions about those programs that have been introduced to the board in the preceding year or two okay so we don't need to make final decisions tonight we can talk about it but I would like to finalize the draft at our next meeting so it gives us two weeks gives me two weeks really okay to hear your feedback but we can talk a little bit about it now yeah you'd like um Marian thank you for this sure first of all um and then if there are
022blank dates at this moment in time that's just because you're anticipating that things could come up and we'll fill in the blanks as time if necessary okay and I included just as an example November 26 I left blank it's the Tuesday the week of Thanksgiving so I just didn't know if that's a great time for who's traveling that always seems to be a week that you might be dealing with a not full attendance also correct yeah was looking more till the March there's a couple in March budget season okay uh we'll have a separate budget presentation calendar so I was intentional leaving those blank around then just knowing the board's going to have other reports but it does not mean we won't have other things to report on okay thanks that's all thank you I
023had a question yeah um I just trying to kind of match the goals to the schedule and a couple of them are very specifically called out I wondered if like the the number four and um no special education I saw but like number five and number three I didn't specifically see you know a meeting called out I wondered how you were fitting them I you're saying we're tying them two together so that's great feedback and that should be included so I also there's one related to if you will a St in plan and that should be a report at some point in here as well so I'll be sure to include reports on uh those items that are more directly associated with each of the goals probably later on in the school year thank you
024um I think that uh I think it looks really good for an outline I I want to go back and check my notes from Retreat I have not had a chance to do that um but uh what was I just going to say uh oh don't get old um anybody else Mark I'll save you um I I don't see anything in here about a about budgeting unless I'm missing something yeah so the budget report schedule will be drafted separately so Kevin and I will work on that uh probably through October or so and then we'll present a budget calendar with it's a Associated reports to the board entirely separate so that will overlay on top of this so you're going to have meetings in February just as an example where we're going to be providing
025budget reports on in addition to these reports that are outlined here so they're going to take the the form of a report as opposed to a cow or some other form that I think we have to work through so the cow structure is something or the committee of the whole structure is something that uh Mary Maryann and I have talked about and where certain items could fit uh on the committee of the versus at a business meeting of the the board um that I'm just still finding my way with because we're not too far into the school year and uh fair enough so I I actually correct me if I'm wrong my my impression of this document is in large part to let us know that sort of the big pieces that we might have
026been interested in are being scheduled at some point and when we can look forward to hearing those so I agree about the comment about the goals right but to there will be many other presentations this year that'll come up as needed or whatever you know that right right so um I think um one thing I don't necessarily see on here is an equity presentation thank you um the the other thing um is just I think maybe a little massaging of a couple of things um the January Cal like I I think we want to use I think the board wants to use um the cows in lie of having to have any other meeting like if we can at all avoid it so we need to do for example your midyear review oh right so
027I was sort of thinking of that is in January there um and I noticed there are two sustainability updates I don't I'm not sure I'm not sure we need to but maybe we do and um so and then uh we'd like to do at some point it might not be a whole cow but we're going to do a a board tuneup you know where we talk about particularly with our our members like how do we think that our procedures are serving us and are we doing the best we can and you know how you know so our our little personal tweaking a tweaking of us um and then I would say uh in June a cow in June for uh related to evaluation even though everybody loves to think June's the end of it all
028I think we'll definitely need another meeting in June yeah Linda so I know previously we spoke about having uh Student Government come yes so yeah I'm in contact with them uh to set up what I was so let's talk about that a monthly update from the student government second meeting of each month if that works for the board and they would have the a set time on the agenda just to provide a brief update the board members could ask questions of our Student Government reps and then quite frankly they could leave um so that they can get to their studies and other things that they have going on I think that sounds like what we've been what we used to have back in the day and um I think it sounds good okay I'll include
029that so that'll be on we're here they'll come over here right that's good um I think this is a great working document I you know suggest we all like look at our notes or if there's anything I'm going to look back at last year's calendar to see if there's anything sort of out of the ordinary but there will be a lot of ordinary things dropped in here for sure I mean there's at least half a dozen orish half a dozen right Kevin budget presentations what yeah sorry yeah give yeah that's off the top you know um uh so um does anybody have any other comments on this document so far or the other thing too is reach out to Linda or I in the next couple of days we'll meet again with Phil on Friday
030maybe we can kind of take another iterative look at it so if anybody has any other feedback I see you hitting your button there Mar I am how did you see that because it's so red um point of order just in terms have you switched your meeting days yes to Friday instead of Wednesday yes and I apologize that that's okay but good to know in case we do have something we'd like to bring forward that they now we have till Friday to get our yes I mean I I think I think for a couple of reasons for one thing um Dr Bon gives us all a weekly update on Friday so that way we're all kind of on the same cycle of information it just also fit with everybody's calendar and and Dr beran's been
031working I think really hard with the administrative with the not the the um the central office staff to get our um agendas on some kind of a chop chop routine and so it helps him if he's going to go over the agenda with us that Friday is a better day because that's the day at jobs so there's less change coming after that point so that was part of the reason I'm not questioning the idea that you switched it just wanting to get that it is now a Friday event it's generally 10 o'clock on Fridays unless one of us has to move it for some reason now for the building reports I think we've approached this or tasked our building admins differently over the years yes what's the board most interested in hearing from our building
032principles well I I can I can let everybody talk with but they but let me give you a kind of for people that are knew a brief history of what we've done many years ago um there were elements of particularly the elementary schools some performance some academic performance numbers but it seemed in the end that it was sing singling singling out particular grades and particular teachers and it just seemed like a lot of focus in a board meeting that way so that was at one point pulled out and done um for all the schools from the curriculum and instruction office they'd come in and give us presentations on student performance results and I'm not sure that's in here somewhere but um you know we would receive those semiannually or whatever um and then at that
033point they started doing for the last two years we've be doing the ignite presentations part of that was we had some incredibly long meetings a couple years ago like crazy super crazy long and um having your morning coffee crazy long so there was an idea that wouldn't we um wouldn't we truncate the amount of time that they had so the ignite presentation if you're not familiar with it is like so many slides and they talk really fast so and then the other thing we asked for as a board is we asked for student we wanted to if possible see students we wanted to hear about students maybe see some students so all the schools for the last is it one year or two years two years two years have been putting together something it doesn't
034need to be elaborate and it it can be something they've already done that they're just sort of showcasing um and they and also maybe we'll decide we don't want to do that anymore so anyway that's just a starting point for discussion of where we are right now anybody want to say anything Aran why do I always have something to say tonight sorry I love that what I think for me personally is missing from this entire um discussion would be feedback from the building administrators that gives us an idea of what their thinking has been going on for the last couple years in terms of both the ignite format and also the student participation thing because while I personally love the idea that it gives us a flavor of their building and what is important to
035that particular building because I do think each building has a culture that we'd like to hear about so I I mean I like all of that stuff but I'm I don't know if we've ever heard from anybody that anybody checked back in with the administrators to see if it curls their hair and makes them crazy to do it or you know what I mean I I think there might want to be a balance between what we think we want or need and what they can actually provide us with in a fashion that doesn't make them go crazy so I guess the end result of my comments is just I always love seeing the kids because it's just the best part of the entire meeting um but kind of would like to know that we're not
036offputting when we request things like that so that's my thoughts anybody else to comment at this point um you know this is sort of like a a I don't we don't necessarily have to do anything this but I'm just going to say out loud kind of a hope I always had you know one of the reasons we go to all these different schools is because part of our obligation is to visit all the schools so this is the way we meet Our obligation to visit all the schools is by rotating our meetings through the schools and I and you know um nine times out of 10 we end up with an exact session before these meetings you know but it would be really nice if we could meet some people while we're there you know
037it be nice if we could look around and walk down the halls and see some of the the work and the people and the you know and you know I'd even you know say wouldn't it be nice if we could you know share a pizza with some staff or something I just feel like you know we are coming and we're we're just basically uh we're not fully taking advantage of the opportunity to sort of be at a school and um but it's off hours and it's everything else and and I think to Marian's point we're not looking to make work for people um that was part of what you're saying I think right so anyway I can work with that okay thank you I think next we had District goals if I I'm jumping in
038yeah no go right ahead perfect so the board has in front of them I'm sorry I don't have this displayed for members of the community that are here but there's uh five draft District goals now four of these were presented I believe at the board retree I added the fifth which I was working on or or thinking through through so uh I'll just speak to each and then we can open it up for further discussion if uh you would like uh so we have the capital referendum and obviously there's going to be a lot of work that's related to that so the first goal is related to our continued engagement on that work and uh to make sure that the Project's moving forward on time and I said on or under budget uh which uh
039uh but Mo most importantly that we're facilitating these processes uh transparently so any Community member who uh wants to see what's going on uh uh has the ability to access uh information related to the project not just by way of looking at board meetings so there should be some public facing um component um uh whether that be of our website or um continued updates that are provided to the community uh through routine newsletters and such that allow the community to see that we're being good stewards of their resources uh the second goal is related to the development of the capital plan and budget for the upcoming school year uh the third as you've heard me speak to quite a bit now is just uh anticipating that there's going to be a significant shift in staff
040uh here in the years ahead and we should develop a staffing plan that accounts for our short and long-term needs uh the fourth is related to the special education audit which was completed last school year and the associate action planning that'll need to be done as it relates to that findings of that audit and the fifth and I resolved to this just a week or so ago we have a lot of work that's going on in the spirit of improving our students academic social or emotional growth um quite a bit um I think I'm going to need quite frankly the year to review all of that and to make uh develop a plan along with the rest of the administration and our teacher leaders uh for supporting that continued effort into um next school year
041and I'm airing on the less is more uh approach here I I think that's just my my instincts that we're doing a lot uh but I'm a little worried that we may be spread a bit thin in in our efforts and by way of that all good intentions but having less of an impact than we could be had we focused on a few key things uh in doing those things well that's where I am at in September uh by March I might be in a slightly different place but I really need to take more time I haven't seen uh just as an example I've had two months here but it's been summer and I haven't seen our kids haven't been in session uh so already in the first few days of school um I've observed
042a lot and I'm still observing and I you know I'm know I'm going Tove observe more uh before I make any final assessments about how our what our efforts have been and whether or not they're having the desired impact but that's going to take a little bit more time yeah and to Donas Point earlier [Music] um yeah the number four is on your schedule but number I would say three and five you know and then and where that logically makes sense and maybe there's a piece of that um maybe there's several pieces of that maybe kind of we continue to retreat over the summer too depending on you know how deep and Rich it is but it would be interesting to see some of that does anybody have any questions or dialogue about this Maran
043first sorry Gotta Keep It Fun okay Mark yeah I I talked with Phil before the meeting about uh the facilities U and uh Capital Improvement uh and that we I think you talked to you about it as well that one of the things that we can do uh I think if the board agrees is to take the uh reports that we get from the parties that are involved The Architects the construction managers and you know the people that are involved Kevin uh as to where we are you know where we're going what's happening uh which is what I see is the job of uh Cathy which is the capital and Facilities Improvement committee uh to report the things that are going on on where we stand on different projects uh and then I think uh
044providing a narrative uh that's a little more in depth than perhaps minutes might be that we would post on the web uh as as one possibility um so that the public would be able to see because we we talked about this before we just approved $170 million what are you doing with it right so now they anyone uh in the district could and I suppose outside of the district could go and see this is where the you the projects are uh at at this point in time uh five years from now they can go back and look at what projects we were doing how much they cost if they came in on budget or under budget uh as would like to say and Kevin uh so that we have a living record of the kinds
045of things that we've done right and we're being very transparent about how we are using the money that they were so uh kind to approve this this past budget so I I I liked when you mentioned that um there might be something on the website that keeps people up to date I do think you know in all cander though it will be something created by the administration like that would step out of our governance role so if we're using something for our committee work it's not going to make it to the website type of thing you know that would necessar neily be something that would be created by the administration does that make sense I think the portion of the website Melissa and I can can work more on this but obviously we'll build it
046out I will build it out but Melissa we'll work with you'll have the idea whoever to build it out and we just have to we'll solicit feedback from the board on what that looks like and whether or not we feel that it's meeting um the community's needs um and and done in a way that's transparent and includes the necessary information so we have a lot of information that we can provide we just want to make sure we're providing the right information in a way that is easily accessible uh for the board so um not to segue but the school website update I yeah is that are we when is the actual live date of some kind of change to the website is it at the end of this year for next year and this is
047the working thinking year is that correct I think I've had it as June 2025 right Melissa okay I was just curious okay um any other comments on the goals ien um looking at number five I appreciate the depth and the breadth of that goal um for me I'm wondering if like uh I don't want to go all the way through the year and hear in June that this is where we are um or or what you're seeing I'm wondering if there are places to bring us along at checkpoints and say this is what I'm learning so far this is what we're thinking you know is your your yeah I think that's that makes sense Eileen I have myself I have an entry report that I plan to provide to the board in mid to late
048October as one of the workshop topics and or I'm sorry discussion topics so I think I'll be hitting on it then um then as we get into budget development again we haven't outline that and these reports my sense is well that'll be another checkpoint okay and planning for the upcoming school year does that you think that's frequent enough y six weeks and then another one probably a couple months after that yeah like two three times the year anybody have anything else at the moment Sophia on number three um I wonder if there is um better words to to convey the message I think it's clear here I just have a couple of proposed different words so developing a staffing plan that meets The District's short and long-term needs by balancing hiring an attrition because in
049our in our meeting we discussed about the needs of flu fluctuating uh needs and then the second phrase is very really a practice right so you want to hire the best qualified candidates for positions by providing equal opportunity in the application and selection process I can I can send you these words if that will help well well you can offer a suggestion but just we we stay at the governance level so we don't write for people generally so we can offer suggestions and what Phil will do is he'll create like a revised thing based on discussion and it's also based on if we all agree like that's kind of the method of how it works here because otherwise we're like you know nine Tales wagging the dog and it's a very difficult thing for a
050superintendent to manage right so um but those are some excellent comments so I think he took a couple of notes there I did um so I can send them to him you um you can send them to me okay um and uh you know I I actually you know I I don't feel like said that very well um it's important to me that as we begin the year we um and we acknowledge how we uh what our role is and that we stay in our Lane right and our lane is governance and it's very easy that's why I made the comment to Mark about the website it's very easy because we're all doers right we wouldn't be here if we weren't doers but it's a different level of doing here here here's the level of
051questioning and wondering and those are like the good words to use you know I'm wondering if this is or I'm appreciating that or you know and then you need to get you need to be satisfied with the answer doesn't mean you there isn't concrete there but um so I probably if we'd been doing this for a year or two together as a group I wouldn't have even said anything but but because we're all fresh starting out I just want to if I see something that seems to be going a little bit you know coloring outside the lines I'm just trying to kind of delineate where our lines are if that makes any sense um that make sense okay eile yeah I just have a quick question so in terms of communication yeah the the agenda
052comes out we have a question on something does the question go to you and then get relayed to Dr bante or we go to I believe that's what we're trying okay right but again we're going to have a meeting on this calendar that's going to be us to say is this working for us right so um we had a slightly different procedure with our previous superintendent which was [Music] um you know I I think what we're trying to get a handle is on volume here how much how many questions are coming like how much is is going on and then if there's things like some questions I can answer but a lot of questions I can't and they go to him and everyone gets copied on the answer the other thing too is you know
053frequently even if you don't have the same question when you see it you're like oh yeah that is a good question like you want to hear the answer everybody wants to hear the answer right and you want to know the question was asked um whatever policy we come up with for questions but you should never feel like you can't reach out to Phil so this is like a process to just help the wheels move but if you feel compelled to reach out to him directly you're you know you can do that right um I don't want anybody to feel like there's some kind of traffic cop here that's not really the point the point is to make it as efficient as possible for him as he's trying to sort of learn as much about us
054does that make sense yeah two months in it's been fine so uh and I think it's happened both ways where uh questions have come in through Maryann and marann presents them to me and uh there's a process for that information going back whether it's through Maryann or it's something written to the whole board because sometimes it uh there's good questions that the whole board should have an answer to um but I've also received a couple of questions that Maryann and Linda then been ccon and again it's just more direct that way and both have been fine I I think what we know is just with the school year now starting with kids in the buildings and whatnot that the volume the potential for the volume of everything to ramp up is pretty high and I
055don't have a sense for that uh yet but we'll find out I'm sure over the next couple months and we should continue to check in about it the board should feel well informed on matters you should feel like you're getting think we all want the same thing um you should feel like you're getting clear answers on things that are uh questions for you or community members are presenting to you uh so we all want the same thing it's just uh I I think and I hear from some superintendant that who feel they can't get anything done because they're responding to questions from their board or uh continually and some of us are chat and some of us aren't right and it's not allowing them to work with right right you know their Administration and that
056hasn't come up here but I think that's the that's what we want to prevent and ensure doesn't happen right right right um so Sophia to go back to your point you'd like to make sure that it includes um so so this is actually equal opportunity this is actually these are Phil's goals right so these are going to be and put it into our our um superv tool right so if you um we'll have to have a actually that's something needs to go on our schedule we have to have a brief kind of internal training about superval how that works right but it's a it's from it's through nisb but it's a rubric through which um many many districts uh rate their superintendent and so there's all like predesignated you know um financial management management of
057people there's like all different sections of it right management of the board management of community right but then at the end there's a there's a section that you populate yourself with goals and and so at the end of the year we'll all participate equally in his evaluation that's how the tool works and so um one of the things that'll be on the rubric a scale of one to five rubric will be these five goals right so I think that one question is to just look at these with the eye of H how will we EV you know what what is going to be um how do we evaluate the what is your expectation for us to evaluate these against the rubric right um which are highly effective effective needs Improvement you know the whole thatu
058St of rubric um you know and I think that most of them like to lend themselves right away um so number five you're envisioning some kind of a presentation um to the board yes okay and that's the same with um we know that's the same for number four and then yep and three and three to okay and two is the budget so two is the budget for one's going to be ongo obviously because that's a long-term project right um and I have one more question but before I ask my question do anybody else I don't want to we try to do one question then we move it around so I don't want to keep going so you know one interesting thing um it uh the special education audit process really the um I many we
059all saw the presentation last year but that was the extent really of our familiarity with the recommendations and the um almost appropriateness of the recommendations I almost think that we could use a a primer on uh you know where we the quality of the report your assessment of the report itself you know so maybe breaking it into chunks somehow so that when the report comes it would be a it would be a if the report comes in whatever month you have it on here in February it's a steep climb for us for that so um and that actually could even be uh doesn't need to be a presentation perhaps it could even be like a mammo or Reflections or something like that you know why don't we talk about what we think the best way
060but I um but it was I mean people who were here it was a tough report to get your arms around would you not say yeah and certainly we'll get copies of that report to our newest board members Jennifer um I just with that special ed report um maybe some feedback from the teachers on it because I saw it from a different side um when it was presented and um sitting out out out in the audience and um with some teachers who um just appeared very concerned by it um so I just wanted to maybe have some teacher feedback on that report because I know it was one perspective from one company yeah I watched it because they're all public so I was able to see that and I have the constructs of the written
061report and and something else say with I I think that the report itself signified in in some ways without getting into the thoroughness or the recommendations that were made when examining that against our student performance results still suggestive that we have um the need to step back and examine our special education programming in um whether or not our programming um and other supports that we have in place are uh having their desired impact and I I think we do that we should be doing that with all of our programming almost all of the time but uh that the results we're seeing as it relates to some of our um special education students in particular maybe uh suggest that that needs to be prioritized against other areas um I'll sit with the report a bit longer
062though if there's concerns about the methodology and all of that no actually it's more of a um I'll just speak for myself it's more of a you know sort of a not knowing you know there's no I I didn't particularly push back on any aspects of it it recommended um some big shifts as I recall and uh so why don't we just like stick a pin in it for now I'm just saying I think I think that um getting so in February so maybe February is a great time because maybe what there could be is a February report and maybe a report later in the year you know kind of a double-edged you know I'm not I'm not sure so why don't we just maybe stick a pin in that and well I just I
063want you to know I'm trying to be deliberate and where I I Pace these out yeah because they're all suggestive of work that needs to be done so right they all can't happen in the first quarter correct right and they all can't happen in the last quarter right I have to pce them out on some schedule that allows me and the administration the time that's necessary uh to review what's already been done right to effectively engage our staff and then to analyze that and develop a coherent plan right and there's a lot of reviewing there's a lot of time that's going to need to be taken to review what's already been done because the people I just want to finish the people who did the work are no longer who initially facilitated the work are
064no longer here right so I just need the the grace if you will of understanding the the context of all that because it's it's G to take time so M you know maybe thinking about [Music] um what's in this goal that it's not necessarily related to the audit that it's related to the special education in general which includes a reflection somehow on the audit right I don't you know I just um I don't even know what everybody's opinion of the the audit was I mean yeah understood yeah all right all right all right okay so I'll sit with it work that it's a draft it is a draft and it's a great draft and I I appreciate the sort of the it's also a lot you know um um and it represents what is a
065great first year which is a um a deep into getting to know you versus like two ticks in a in a graduation rate or two ticks in a you know which is which is really chasing small things right so I appreciate that um anybody else any comments on the all righty real okay then are we good okay moving on to new business our new business section of the agenda list several items for individual resolution approval documentation concerning these these items has been provided to our new our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review okay Item B um uh the memorandum of understanding with the ATA can I get a motion please so moved thank you second thank you any discussion seeing none all those in favor I opposed extensions MO passes
066um item C certified instruction instructional abolishment of position can I get a motion please no move thank you second thank you any discussion may may I yes and this is related to item C and D because they're they're both related to one another uh we examine the the structure or I'm sorry the responsibilities that were associated with the supervisor um position um particularly the the responsibilities that Hillary was carrying out uh as the supervisor of human resources and realized that those responsibilities were very consistent with director responsibilities um which is part of the reason that that led to this recommendation uh secondary to that is that the structure if you were to look at the structure of each of our departments um uh PPS um curriculum and instruction in particular uh there's an assistant superintendent
067and then there's a director level of support underneath each so with Hillary transition into the assistant superintendent role uh we felt that this was a good opportunity to bring the title of the support in align not only with what other the other departments are uh but align with the responsibilities that that person was actually or that position is actually carrying out we have a recommendation for the person later uh but that's what led to the recommendations for CN just for context thank you any other discussion points on that see all those in favor opposed extensions motion passes um item D certified instructural creation of position may I get a motion please so moved a second okay great any discussion seeing none all those in favor I I opposed abstentions motion passes all right um future
068discussion items does anybody have any future discussion items this evening seeing none moving on to our business consent agenda our consent section of the agenda lists several items for approval by a single motion documentation concerning these items has been provided to our board members in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review may I please get a motion for the consent agenda thank thank you um and the discussion just one comment okay um one of the criteria that when we review prospective administrators uh for consideration or employment in Arlington is reviewing them against the standard for leadership in Arlington uh we say there's three things that stand out for all successful leaders in Arlington I I mentioned these before so uh with another appointment earlier this summer um those leaders are PR they're trustworthy and
069they're emotionally intelligent and tonight's recommendation includes or tonight's consent agenda includes a recommendation for Erica Fuller uh to fulfill the assignment of Director of Human Resources Erica's here she's in the front row there give a wave Erica is a longstanding employee of the Arlington Central School District and has fulfilled several administrative roles in the district she's uh sought out new opportunities along the way and we're really happy to have Erica back in the district office working in Human Resources with your approval okay any other discussion seeing none all those in favor I I opposed extensions motion passes [Applause] congratulations all right um public comment for non-agenda items Mrs Flynn none today all right that moves us along we're zooming along to committee reports all right um I don't have my list so uh um advocacy
070oh wow first because you know why you know what it is I don't have a list on here so I'm winging it but no one could tell no one could tell where you advocacy uh will meet tomorrow evening In This Very Room at 6:30 p.m. to review the resolutions book for the nisba business meeting in October and I would assume to put forth a recommendation of who will sit at that meeting and then we'll get it all together and we'll have it on the agenda for your review and approval at the next board meeting excellent thank you Mary can I also me neither you nor I mentioned we sat in it's somewhat contains the advocacy but we sat in with Kevin on um assemblyman beef's session right on the foundation Aid um study so it
071was interesting yeah I listened okay got frustrated and chose not to say anything so okay you said a little Kevin said a little Kevin asked for an inflation adjustment and got crickets crickets not even like uh crickets so anyway but we would hope the the hope would be that everything that was said is forwarded on and that some intelligent thinking goes hand in hand with that you know what I'm saying like the Crickets thing okay but hopefully like Kevin's comment correct moves forward into some kind of space that will help us um as they look forward absolutely Kevin's comments should be highlighted throughout um and I trust that they were heard and they listen and those are recorded I think what we're hearing is that many districts are saying the same thing and I don't
072know if in the end it's going to result in more aid for Arlington when some of those variables increased poverty as an example is it seems to be happening everywhere it's nice correct correct so you're you know you're probably you know it's all like anything else you have to be an outlier in that space right it's like it's a reset of everything you know and um it'll be a bad Dash and a and a lobbying they're expecting what a couple years of till it kind of comes out into the formula but you know people will be screaming pretty loud they they were there was a lot of talk about making sure that we had sort of a Runway right some kind of a that that more certainty in the formulation going forward so there wasn't
073always the surprise when we're going to estimate our budgets you know if the budgets haven't been approved there's some kind of but but these people are really just making recommendations and then it needs to go through the legislature so you know there'll be a whole another round of um you know correct I guess I'm just grateful that we had a place at the table and didn't didn't feel like it wasn't worth the effort and therefore didn't participate because I think then you always may have regrets afterwards I I appreciate your time Kevin's time and everything that you put forth remiss if we didn't mention it under advocacy and all of our local legislators were there right um which was great listening um and the folks from the Rockefeller Institute were there and they were very
074candid about where they're at and what they're able to do and what they're not able to do and um so I was appreciative for that I just I don't know if I know right we're going to get yeah no I hear what you're saying result yeah but thank you anyway for your time than you I appreciate it and I think they're maybe GNA index things going forward so they're not like freezing it again at one point in time you know it's frozen what is it 15 years it's frozen Kevin that something or more than that it's a 2000 census I think was some of the that's even crazy so you know they hoping to tie it to things that'll evolve over time it's a big lift because people are going to have a lot of
075opinions once you figure out whether it helps you or hurts you right um so anyway stay tuned they're dropping the report what December 1st December 1st was that the day sounds right um facilities policy sure policy we're meeting next Wednesday at 3M in this building excellent um audit uh to be determined sometime in October facilities the caffy commit the caffy Don't make me say please the ca I I'm gonna keep saying I got an invitation to like 40 caffy meetings I'm like what is this no we uh we met on August 22nd okay uh just to kind of lay out the the work for the committee um that uh we were going to get information for the board make a recommendation to the board when asked for uh and kind of get the ground rules
076down uh we have four correction five meetings scheduled the next one is October 10th and in his Brilliance Dr benante scheduled the uh T to Tech updates after our meetings in each four cases uh it's just magic uh that you managed to do that so we will kind of lay the groundwork and uh they'll come back and give you some more details if need be and maybe some other things as well so that's uh 1010 is the next one and uh we're going to do it every two months 26 uh let's see here 43 and 65 to wrap up the year okay thank you have I hit everybody advocacy facilities audit policy I feel like I'm missing somebody am I missing anybody no all right um organization reports I know a lot of our organizations
077haven't gotten started really quite yet um does onton Education Foundation have a report tomorrow tomorrow is the first meeting yeah okay um and then what about Texas County School boards first meeting is October 3D it'll be a zoom um the third and then you know we're all we're all copied on those emails you're welcome could join the zoom if you like um partic I would I would say I would join if it's a topic that interests you you know might you know that's what I that's how I would say you're certainly not expected to join most people don't but um sometimes they get some some interesting topics and um and Maran always goes and I usually go um any other organization reports that would like to report in at this point all right we'll get
078cracking um PTSA hasn't started up yet I don't think nope so so we'll get cracking on that another month or so all right that moves us on to superintendent closing remarks good question Maran where is advocacy meeting tomorrow here this room okay got it thank you I don't have any closing remarks okay it's been a great start all right um any board Reflections Oh Linda then Maran um I'd like to thank uh Mr key and Liam they whether you're required to be here at board meetings or not I don't really know what's going you know but um you provide us with this wonderful technology you are you're always helping us uh even at meetings and when we're not um like at a board meeting like at at a cow meeting or if we interviewing people
079you're you're always there to help us so thank you Liam and thank you Mr Hy love this new setup very nice um oh Maran you had one I do I I have to say this one's for Dr bante because I heard from several sources about your presence and your your presence at opening day no matter where in the district you were there you were chipping in you were visible it was noted and appreciated by people so that it came back at least to my ears so just thank you cuz it was great Mark yeah I'm I'm gonna chime in on that as well and I expressed this to Phil on on opening day um in my 48 years in Arlington I've never seen a better opening day than the one that you guys put together
080it was fantastic the people in the back row which is usually the hiding spot and anybody who's been a teacher knows that and probably some that don't uh they were having a a great time as well there was a variety of lot of diff different activities going on uh it kept everybody involved you kept them involved uh throughout the presentation uh I almost wished I was working again almost uh but it was it was very well done and I commend you and your staff to that on a great job they did thank you Hillary set the tone yes she did did you did you really have any idea what was gonna happen maybe a little bit Yeah you get to see certain things before they go on the screen got long as she didn't get
081Veto power because that was gold it was it was good it was good stuff um anyone else want Reflections Jeff um building off a Tuesday as well um the positivity that came out of that was from tremendous um but what really struck me was when you asked everybody who's had 25 years or more service in school and I turned around and I saw the number of people standing up um shows the experience we have in the district and the people we're going to be losing in the next few years and you know using them to the best of our abilities while they're still here thank you all right anyone else okay then can I get a motion to adjourn please so moved second thank you um no discussion there all those in favor I opposed
082exstension motion passes meeting is adjourned