001Good evening everyone. It is Tuesday, May 13th, 2025. The board is opening a meeting with a purpose to adjourn to Executive session, where we will discuss the employment history of an individual and the superintendent evaluation. No action will be taken. I need a motion. General motion. Second. All in favor? Motion passes four zero. We will return to open session at 630. Thank you. Evening. Everyone is May 13th and we are returning from 13th sessions with the motion to open the meeting down on the motion. Those on the second. All those in favor. Motion passes six zero and we'll open the meeting with the exception of one. United States of America. This republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And now we move to administrator's remarks. Absolutely.
002Good evening everybody. Uh, so just one quick remark. I want to congratulate, uh, one of our teachers, recording science teacher from your high school who won a Regeneron Stem teacher Fellowship, which is a competitive professional development experience with Regeneron, the Stem Leadership Center and Endeavor uh, Stem teacher certificate program for teachers, college and university graduates. All right. Thank you, Mr. Carlson. Good evening. Just a few updates. So the state finally back under control last week without significant changes to education or tax. A bunch of newsletters have been sent to the Post office. They should be. See that shortly next week. Uh, on which? Monday? Tuesday, May 20th. Uh, the building that followed by a project update at 630 at the high school. I like your help. They want everything that's happening on campus. As you
003can see, things are flying. Uh, you know. Uh, we're taking certain share or checking for the community again. 630 at this high school. I see they finally get it all the committee meeting Tuesday morning to start the day 2018. Uh, like. Okay. Thank you, Doctor Rush. Thank you. Good evening. And two reports. Three announcements. The first having to do with, uh, the performing arts department. It's recent awards that they have been nominated for nominees for. So the Metro Performing Arts Awards recognizes the top musicals in the metropolitan area. The 2025 nominees are. And we have been nominated in seven categories for our spring musical, once in the silent. So the categories are Outstanding Performance by child performer Peter Fernandez. He's a third grader with third graders, outstanding Vocal performance by Male actors, excellent outstanding Achievement
004choreography. Outstanding performance by a student orchestra of Outstanding Performance by an ensemble. Outstanding Cameo Performance by a Female Made Movie, and Outstanding Performance by a Leading Female Ariana Rojas. So we're very proud of our students who were nominated. Uh, and we look forward to seeing who is at in a few weeks. Um, second is, as awards aware, um, there is a new law in place for the 2526 school year, which is a colleague, ex-officio student board member. Um, our process is well underway. Our first interest meeting today. We have another one as well, and I scheduled for this week for interested students. Um, we look forward to meeting with the rest of the student community to their interest and moving along in the process. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. And then, um, just for
005me, I would just say, um, it's so nice that you all came tonight for our, um, what I'm hearing. You guys are, um, uh, build the room, which is great. Welcome to all of you. Um, uh, we just I just want to point out that we have our budget vote on May 20th. Um, also, the election for, um, we're members. Um, and I just encourage anyone in the community if you have any questions about, um, the budget, vote, budget or the propositions that are on the budget, please reach out. You can do so by email, which is budget time BOE with your budget at Brewster School, staff works budget at Brewster school software. Um, or you can send an email to board and we'll make sure it gets to where it should go. But please
006get your questions asked and, uh, and show up to the polls on May 20th. Right. And now we'll move to our student representative, Sebastian. We have for us. Good evening everyone. So AP exam room progress IP address that will run through May 16th. Virtual high school students built, presented and donated the finished doc lead tubes and scrimmages. The VHS freshman team will host an end of your field day on May 21st to celebrate the New Year. The chapter of Monmouth Data Science Honor Society will conduct will host its induction ceremony on May 19th at 830 and have the Choir Cabaret concert will be held on the 20th at 730 in the park, and JROTC award ceremonies will be held May 21st at 630 in the park. Um, congrats to be just science teacher Brooke Horne.
007Um, as mentioned, uh, who was awarded the Regeneron Scholarship or fellowship, um, in the Wells, uh, Washington, DC trip was a huge success. 120 uh, also for these graders, let the three day field trip to the nation's capital and to the south side, such as the monument, Washington Monument, the World War Two Memorial, and Holocaust Museum. It was certainly a trip to remember. Our seventh graders had an awesome time at Adventure Park last week, and the students were able to go on ropes courses and supplies, and the sixth grade trip to see the grandkids play is on May 28th. A CV star. You're invited to the seventh Annual Steam Expo at City Star Thursday, May 15th from 6 to 7:30 p.m. with over 100 student divisions and prototypes tackling real world problems to their patients
008as part of the Expo, we're thrilled to present our annual City Star Art show, and this year it's extra special. The class 48 comes to you over 1500 student artworks inspired by this battle 50. Heart challenges in this year. And on Friday, May 16th at 6 p.m., the Brewster High School Performing Arts Center for C.E. starts production of Disney's The Lion King. Junior will take a trip in pride Rock and celebrate the great circle of life. We have wonderful and talented cast of students from grades to five. Admission is free and we hope to see you there. Um. And JFK during the month of April to JFK, Caring Hearts collected $3,645 for the new American Heart Association. The money goes towards research to create new medicines, to lower blood pressure, to fight congenital heart disease
009and reduce the number of self-reported strokes. JFK age in the Hearts of Heroes push up challenge, which aims to prevent homelessness and bullying by encouraging be compassionate to teamwork. Students completed over 50,000 pushups and the JFK Jr. Eric the which was showered with a bucket of ice water. JFK Spring Concert will take place on May 25th. Make sure to come out and vote. And Peter Garden orientations will be taking place for families May 21st and 27 respectively, in the JCR for you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to presentations, recognition and discussion. And we're going to take a little bit of a switch. And instead of starting with number one we're going to move up the verse from turn number one. This is former. And this. Sorry. Um, but you're all
010here and I'm sure if you would like to go out and celebrate or some great versus. Thanks for having us. This is really the best time of year. It's really the best for. No, thanks. I did the best work. Yeah. Um, Stacey asked that we cheer loudly after I introduce you to one of our top ten. And so, uh. Yes. You have to cheer for us. So number ten, Roderick Cassie. With a grade point average of 99.716. Facebook plans. If you want things in university majoring in comics. Most memorable and memorable experiences. Why don't you try first ever part of my travel conference in Boston and using my hotel room couple times on Laughlin Advisor. Trial and error is one of the most obvious. So congratulations. So we have medals for everyone. And then at
011the end, we'll ask you all to come up and we'll get pictures of all of them. Uh, number nine is Caitlin Consiglio. A grade point average of 99.82 to get. Plans to attend Burgess College studying environmental studies. Her most memorable experience is having the privilege to write honor play cards to honor some of our oldest veterans. Story. Semper Fi Advisor quotes. The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing congratulations. Number eight is Angela Lee, with a grade point average of 99.993. You'll be attending Binghamton University student bio or she's majoring in biochemistry as a pre-med track. Most memorable experience playing Dungeons and Dragons for the first time in gaming club. I've shared many laughs with my best friends and she attempted to revive my character. I don't know if I should.
012Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while to your memory to come back to you. Graduation. You. Number seven was our own speaker, Sebastian Anselmi, with a grade point average of 121 to 2 translates. Special thanks to Tech Park University, which is in Massachusetts. I say majoring in biochemistry and molecular Biology. Most memorable experience last year during AP. I think a lot of Prime Minister Carlson said, and I performed one of the best trade shows he had ever seen. Advisor quote comparison is the thief of joy who graduates. No surprise that your most memorable experience was not sitting in this room. Right now. You can't just squeeze it in. Thank you. Number six is a Alexia example with a grade point average of 122.6. I'll. Tampa and made your
013most, most memorable experiences traveling over spring break and being able to explore a country abroad with my friends. Advice for moment success isn't about the end result, it's about what you learned along the way. Congratulations. Number five is Emanuel the Lindo Garcia, with a grade point average of 100.88. Emmanuel will be attending Northeastern University, majoring in computer science and mathematics. His most memorable experience is going to be at Rocklin and Albany First Robotics. Honorable mention is just part of Thomas. Life. Uh, if you don't fail, you're not even trying to get something you never had. You have to do something you never did. You graduate. Number four is Kaitlin Noble, with a grade point average of 101.215. You'll be attending Providence College. Major secondary ed in history, and I think that's a brilliant decision. Most
014memorable experience are senior year, homecoming week, creating the USA Famous Ben banner with friends, the return of the pre-game bonfire, performing for the last time with the Beaches dance team. Amazing fireworks for quotes. One child, one teacher, one clock, one pen can change the world. With a grade point average of 102.1 seven feet. We will be attending Boston University for physical therapy. Most memorable experience in her sophomore year for eighth the World Finals, a small group project making a silly video on historical world events. It's so much fun and those girls are going places. Her quote, have to throw yourself at the mercy of things you truly want. Congratulations. The. Salutatorian for the class of 2025. This is the break point average of 102.181. Initial plans to attend Cornell University, studying statistics. Her most memorable
015experience is the one that everything in between that she was fortunate enough to share with across the country track. Her quote is continue trying your best. You can't is quite yourself. If you do, congratulations. And the valedictorian for the class of 2025, is out of the car with a grade point average of one over 2.55 seconds. Korea University for speech language pathologist. Our most memorable experience is exploring new cities in culture. When I visited and she visited Spain with some of my best friends, and the jump program will match. I suppose your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are going to do, and your attitude determines how well you do it. Congratulations. Could we have all ten top ten? Come back up with your medals and. We'll do that.
016All right. One, two, three. Thank you. Any of the parents want to get up and taking pictures. Now, Sir John Milton rang on behalf of the board. We just want to say congratulations to all of you here. Your grades are obviously understanding, um, and knowing what we do about you guys. Um, grades are just a small part of what you have, what you will contribute to this world. And it's really what's amazing is everything else that you've done in addition to getting those grades. I'm sure there's hundreds of hours of community service, sports teams, musicals, instruments, you name it. So congratulations. This is really great to see. You know, it's one of the best teachings of graduation. Best of luck and congratulations to your parents. Well done. Have a look at this. And if you.
017Yes, you do not have to. You certainly can. But we can't know. You know, everybody ready to move on? Will do. Um. Uh, number two, public hearing 20 2526. Budget notice is hereby given by the Board of Education of Bristol Central School District as follows. So the Board of Education and the Mercer Central School District will hold a public hearing to solicit public comments regarding the 20 2526 budget pursuant to education law on Tuesday, May 13th, 2025 at the district office at approximately 6:30 p.m. Yes. So just a quick recap. So the budget hearing is a requirement leading up to the annual budget vote. We've had five budget presentations from February 3rd April to be as transparent as possible. All of our communications have been posted to our website. We encourage everyone to go on
018to work. Uh, the as I mentioned earlier, the budget newsletter has been sent out to, uh, to every resident within the Brewster Central School District. So we hope that people have an opportunity to to review everything. Just quickly, our budget for next year, 123 million, a 36 FY 21, a 3.56% increase. The tax levy associated with that 83,000,006 81 FY 21, a 1.28% increase, significantly below our 4.15% tax cap. Uh, and this represents the sixth year of, uh, maintaining staffing and or adding staff, uh, largely supported through grant funding and support for vision 2026. Okay. Thank you. And in connection with this public hearing. Uh, we will allow anyone who would like to make a comment regarding the, uh, budget to do so. Now, we just ask that you go to the podium and state
019your name. Um, so if anyone has any, um, public remarks you'd like to make about the budget, you may do something. I am seeing no. No one present who wishes to make remarks. Um, we will move on to, um, our third presentation, which is middle schools to watch. Mr. Rodriguez and his men do so. And this is far too. And Mr. Schwartz forget. Uh. I'd be remiss to say how nice it is to actually see our students that here, um, and to see them grow up. And that's cool very quickly. Unfortunately, um, I remember seeing them as freshmen, and they were unsure as when I saw them at the middle school as well. Um, and it's an opportunity for us to be able to show David was our guest tonight. Um, the type of students
020that Brewster Central is sending to school is that, you know, it's a post-graduation pathway. Very nice to see that. So we're actually here tonight to announce that, uh, well, as no school was able to receive, uh, the middle school to watch designation, which is a major deal for our school district. That that requires applause. Great job guys. Right on cue. Oh, we needed an audience. Uh, so our agenda for tonight is to explain to you one what is most watched, um, our schools divide process. The four domains and evidence a school, um, was able to slide. And what's next for Wells in the future? So first of all, um, we want to say a big heartfelt thank you to everyone that took part in the middle schools to watch process. Um, we had a couple
021of Board of Ed members come in and carry everything else. So thank you guys so much. Um, our district office personnel that came in in an interview. Um, our principals and directors that were also part of the panel. So thank you guys for coming. Um, our parents, um, our parents, uh, if you guys remember, we actually we were snowed out the first time that the first day that we actually had the school to watch, uh, presentations. So our parents actually persevered. When you come back another time. So it was great to see, um, our students to express and honestly how, um, the school was run and their experience. Um, our teachers and staff members as well. Uh, our schools to watch committee members. Uh, a big thank you to them. Uh, our writing committee, we
022have great our teachers are great writers. Uh, this application process, which we're going to go into a minute, uh, was very extensive. Um, so one of the it was a shout out. Um, Mr. Clark is not Miss Ronnie and Mrs. Kowski for being outstanding writers. Um, and help us get that designation. Um, and also our school supplies reps, uh, and in particular, uh, one that was tonight, um, mister David Froman. Um, lastly, actually, I what I really want to say, um, is I want to say a special thank you to miss McLaughlin. Okay. I know she's pretty shy about it and doesn't like the attention, but, um, it needs to be said how she took this on. Uh, one of the, uh, when I had my my entry level interviews with everyone that in mind
023were hers, and she expressed to me how she wanted to continue this process to get this designation. And the reason that she wanted to continue the process is because of how much she loves this school and how much she wanted to display how great our school is. Um, and get this designation for our school district. Um, so, you know, I saw how meaningful it was to her. Um, so we went through that process, but she really was the person that a lot of looking at the middle school social designation a couple of years ago. Um, I think committee members, when I got to the school, um, brought in the writing committee over the summer, um, and got down to the nitty gritty work. And then on top of that, um, planned out, um, the committee,
024the committee meetings. Um, so everything that you guys did or comments, all because of the work that she did. Um, to be able to get our school this special designation. Um, so don't be shy about it. Uh. Uh, so with that, I'll step aside some of my favorites. My, uh, we came out of we came about to get this designation. Uh, thank you, Mr. Rodriguez. Thank you to everyone tonight. I'm really excited to be here. Um, and I just want to say thank you to everybody that was involved in this process. It definitely was a team effort. Um, so very briefly, I'm going to describe what middle school is to watch is um, so it's a designation by myself. And basically what it says is who are your kids and what are you doing to
025meet their needs? And that's what really helped me with this, because we have a very diverse population at our school, and each and every day, every member of the staff meets the needs of those kids or puts the effort into me to meet the needs of those students. Um, so we had to, uh, fill out an application and really look at the school through a lens of four different domains. And those are academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structure. Um, so this is, um, a noncompetitive, um, program that's designed to improve, you know, no matter how great your school is doing, you're always we're always looking to improve, and we always should be looking to improve because we can always get better. Um, this process is similar to try states, but it's specific
026to the middle school level, which is another thing that really I was drawn to when I heard about this program. Um, because middle school is such a special time for students and there's such unique needs. Um, so this process, uh, involves, uh, the tri states process with an application. As Mr. Rodriguez said, we had to write a whole narrative, and then we had a two day visit, uh, which was a critical friends, um, protocol, basically where people for reps came in, observed the school, met with different panels and then gave us feedback and ultimately a destination. Um, for myself, this was major growth for myself as a leader, as planning this whole thing out was, was a lot of work. But I learned a lot through it. And I'm very thankful for the opportunity to
027grow myself as a leader through this process. Um, so becoming a schools to watch is important because not only does it, you know, bring the team together and acknowledge all of the work that we do every day, but it provides an opportunity for us to be on a place in a consortium of different middle schools where we have the opportunity to go and visit and host other schools. And I know that question comes up at board meetings a lot. How are you're incentivizing teachers? This is an example of that where you sometimes teachers and anyone that works in education needs to be re inspired. And this is a way that we can do that. We can send teachers to other schools that want to learn different strategies or see how other schools are doing different
028things. After our visit, Marlborough Middle School invited, uh, asked if we could host three teachers. Uh, they wanted to check out our system. Um, so we hosted a special raffle for them. And I went through the whole process of how we, you know, what we do with our PBIs system. So that was really exciting to exchange those ideas, hear what they're doing, and have them come to the school and allow us to show off what we're doing at our school. Um, so I'm really excited for that opportunity, um, to learn from different schools. Um, so very quickly, the process started in 22, 23. We have to notify because she talks. And also important information about our our intentions to apply for middle schools to Ash. We then formed a committee where we went over a
029rubric and sort of had a bigger discussion around, do we need this criteria and where do we start? Uh, from there we started educating the staff. Um, particularly faculty meetings at the end of last year and questions that have received meeting, uh, to go over the process. And that's because in the spring of last year, we have to survey the staff of the rubric based on those four domains. So I pushed into each team meeting at the end of this year, just to go over the process again and allow teachers to ask questions on the smaller and smaller groups around the process. Uh, then we got accepted to the next level, which was writing, um, writing a narrative. So again, I have to thank Mr. Clarke, Mrs. DeMar, Mrs. Romney and Miss Mrs. Kelsey, um,
030for coming in over the summer. We had a huge brainstorming session. It was a three days of writing. Um, and then we wrote a 34 page narrative. Um, by the end of the three days, I have to tell the story. Mr. mayor was so excited. Um, she was like, I think we're going to get it by the end of days. And it was really exciting to see that excitement, because I think when you're working in a school and if you're in your classroom or in your office or, you know, whatever your role is in the school, it's very easy just to see your lens. But when you take a step back and see all the amazing things that happen in the school, it's it's very breathtaking. Um, so that was really exciting. So to work
031with those teachers over the summer and write that report. Um, and then we had our visit in February, so we had four representatives come, Mr. David working with our middle schools to watch rap. He's here tonight. Thank you so much for making the trip. Uh, we have Doctor Donald lately. He's an assistant professor at LSU. Uh, Brittany, Dr. Kola from Camden Middle School, and then, um, Deborah Clinton from Marble Middle School. Um, so the visit included an opening presentation by the administrative team. We had panels of students. 20 students were interviewed, uh, about 20 staff members. We had ten parents come in. They wanted to talk to the transitioning principal. So Mr. Selection and Mrs. Fuller, um, administration from the district office, um, board of Ed members. And then they had classroom visits and clubs.
032And what was really exciting is that they didn't want to schedule. They didn't want, you know, a schedule of who's your best teacher or where, you know, where's the most exciting things happen. They wanted free reign to just walk into any class, and it was a real visit for them to see what we're doing. Something that I was really excited about, and I really felt like the narrative came to life, is during the grade level meeting, they got to see a grade level meeting where all the students met with the National Guard. They received, uh, an assembly on bullying prevention. And then, um, during that time, we released the teachers in our own time. So the administration worked with, uh, teachers on grading practices. So they really saw how we use our master schedule in
033order to maximize time for students, but also for staff as well. Um, and then, you know, we also had to review enrollment and go over demographic data. The district initiatives are the district's mission and the school's mission, um, slogan and also our call to action. And then we showed how we demonstrated in each of those four domains in our school. Um. Um, so I just want to go over the domains quickly. Um, so based off of, you know, academic excellence, what we wanted to show off is how we challenge all of our students to use our minds and also productively struggle at their level and strive for excellence. When we talk about organization and processes, one thing at how we establish norms, structures and organizational systems to support students that help guide them toward that
034mindset. Once when we're talking about developmental responsiveness, um, we're talking about this. We're sensitive to the unique developmental stage that the middle level learner is at. Um, and by knowing our students, we know what their needs are. And then we're able to respond to them, um, through various structures. And then when we're talking about social equity, we're talking about how every student has access to high quality instruction resources, different opportunities, supports clubs, etcetera. Um, and really creating an environment of positive possibilities for all students. Um, so now Mr. Suarez is going to briefly mention how we do that. Um, specifically at one. All right, so, uh, this is interesting for me because, um, this is the second year I've ever worked in middle school, and everything that we do here is, has been just absolutely
035amazing. So the first thing, um, I'll highlight is when we talk about our academic excellence, um, and talk about kind of the pathways to viable credits. So, uh, the beauty of the high school credits that we offer the, uh, at the middle school, um, students are walking into VHS with roughly about four, uh, credits already taking Regents exams and algebra, geometry of biology, given their world language credits. So this is a really amazing thing that we do there. When we talk about developmental responsiveness, um, one of the beauties of our school and it's open at all times is the den. Okay. And it's a supervised space where students can, um, get to reset. It's part of the work we do to support the social emotional learning at Wells, which is a great environment for the
036students. And a lot of students love it and get reset for the rest of their day and keep it moving. For organizational structure. Uh, you know the geologist Glen Swenson, uh, this is just fantastic. The grade level meetings are provided for students on different topics, ranging from safety and safety to cultural celebrations, while teachers are perfecting the craft through APD at the same time. And this is what this brings. I mentioned earlier and, uh, the kids love it, and the teachers love it because they get to protect their craft while the students are taken care of by us. I should say social equity. Uh, you know, one of the, uh, the things I focus here on and highlight in this domain are the clubs are. And we have the kindness for the leadership club, the
037Kids against Cancer. She has cancer. Do a fantastic job. She has several fundraisers in the past couple of weeks, and they've raised a lot of money, uh, for their cause. Right. And when they see routine, everybody signs. So Mr. Walker gets. All right. So. So we got the middle school saline watch designation, which means that we got this, or now it's time to basically take it down. Um, so moving forward, uh, we talked about different ways for our students to be supported. Uh, well, uh, one of the ways is through the support of the board format here, uh, reimagining the schedule. Um, including providing support to a lot of periods. So one of the, um, we talked a lot about access here. Um, and one of the things that we wanted to make sure of,
038um, that we saw as a positive practice is providing more tier two instruction and tier three, uh, instruction as well, which we're going to provide next year. It this plan that our goals for you, um, in the fall. Um, so there's that piece of it is also, um, support to our Sped teachers as well, a skills based approach to our learning center, which and includes math support, um, as well as writing support on new courses and clubs that we're, um, uh, running next year, like our capstone course that every student is going to take. Uh, our product design fashion course. We also secured a functioning course as based in tier three, uh, support for our students that are struggling with that, uh, project lead the way of courses that we're bringing back, uh, for our
039students. And this is our students are asking, um, this through classes. Um, the sustainability club, the recycling club after that. Okay. Um, model, um, junior, uh, Gaming and Project U um, as well as, you know, discussion on universal grading at the middle school and then continuing our goal for the county to carry through to the second step, uh, program into grades next year. We're moving for just a 6 to 6 and seven next year and eventually will go into the eighth grade. With that said, I want to just introduce Mr. Brogan, who has a couple of words for us. And then, uh, special presentation. Thank you. You go out. Thank you, Mr. Reese. Uh, first of all, thank you guys. Thank you, Mr. School board. Thank you very much for, uh, allowing me the opportunity
040to tell you what a great little school that you have here in Brewster. As if you didn't know. Congratulations. Uh, I have the opportunity. My name is David Froman. I'm the state director for the school What to Watch program. Uh, I retired in 2022. I was a 30 year plus classroom teacher. Veteran, 28 of them in middle school. Um, I was introduced to the school lunch program in 2008. Uh, I was on the initial, uh, application writing team of the successful, uh, recognition in 2009, uh, taught in the same school district, you know, way up there. All right. And I got involved in the program in middle school in New York state knows close association and the school to Watch program. And now I sit in front of you as the state director, so I
041know the program pretty well. I think one of the things that kind of missed in their presentation, with all due respect, is the detail that they went through in during the application process. I cannot emphasize enough how much the application forces the middle school to take a look at everything that they do, and they do it very well. Um, I if you had the opportunity. Unfortunately, there's no monetary prize that comes with this designation, I'm sorry to say, but the prize came this afternoon when I was able to, uh, witness these three announce to the faculty that they received their designation. And if you could feel the energy in the room, that's the prize. Our program, uh, instills an incredible amount of pride. If you had noticed, I don't know if you kind of picked
042up on. As the three of them were talking, the word process came through loud and strong. It's not a prize. It's a process. And it's a lifelong process. Upon designation. Congratulations. I'll give you about a year to celebrate your designation. And then I put you back to work, because you'll have two more years to re designate again. Disclosed the watch program requires of three year read designation. Because think about it, that changes the whole complexion of the school. Do we always want the schools to be looking forward and moving forward? And I'm very confident that Wells will do that with flying colors. Yes, they'll have the opportunity to join a network of 42 other middle schools. Only 42 other middle schools in New York State. And some of. The numbers are kind of funny, but
043around 600 schools to watch nationwide. The program exists in 20 different states across the country, run by an organization called the National Forum is our kind of umbrella organization. So we'll put it back to work. We'll celebrate your designation. You should celebrate your designation. It is a great honor. Uh, it is a lot of work for what they went through. Not only will they have the opportunity to network with other schools and see what they do, um, other schools already have been contacting me about what you do to see if they can come visit you and take a look at your practices. And that's something that we really appreciate in our program. Thank you. You know, if I would mind this my drum roll moment of the presentation. But. X. Congratulations. H h well, the
044whole school. It's all yours now. You guys guys got swords up on? Pencils down. Here. Yes, I, I close my pen. If they touch. We'll be in touch back in a couple years. I take it. Thank you very much. Thanks. Representation. And congratulations, Mr. Rodriguez. As far as, um, Mr. Senior and I had the opportunity to come in for interviews during this process. And it really like when I left, you could really feel like just a positive energy in school, like I left in such a good mood. And yeah, I really remember that experience. It was nice to talk about Wells, you know, with Mr., um, Froman and and I think it was talking with you. So congratulations. We know it was a lot of work. Um, we could tell that I and the people
045who interviewed us told us how much work. So congratulations. It's wonderful recognition. The administrators and the teachers and the staff and the students at Wells. So congratulations. All right. So now we are at our first opportunity for public remarks. Um, this, uh, public remarks period is limited to our action items tonight. So, um, uh, we just ask that if anyone has any comments relating to our action items. Okay. Um, go to the podium. They state their name. Every speaker has three minutes to make whatever remarks they'd like to make. And we ask that you just direct your comments to the board and don't identify any students or staff in your remarks. So if anyone has any public remarks you'd like to make relating to our action items, please make your way to the podium. Are
046you seeing? None. Um, also, we did not receive any emails relating to our action items, so we will move on to action items. Action item number one. Approval of a proposed budget and Nominating committee. Slate. So that's what you. Yeah. Because. Because I. I guess. Okay. So this is an annual, um, ask of the Board of Education to approve the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association proposed budget and nominating committee slate. They're both, uh, linked into the agenda under time. Okay. Thank you. All right. Okay. Um, can I have a motion and second for this item. Jen on the motion was on a second. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Okay. Seeing none, we'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action. Item number two. Approval of change. Order for
047CV star Cafeteria and project number 001. Dash 026 colon GC Dash oh one. So this is a change order in the amount of $4,744, which includes a credit for insurance which the district purchased in relief of the contractor, and then also an increase for the safe removal or abatement of transit. Uh, I a specialist containing pipe at the CV star water main tire and this was discovered. Uh, discovered a condition which was not known until the pipe was exposed during the excavation. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item? Cindy, on the motion and or on the second. Does anyone have any questions or comments? I just keep forgetting to ask this. Anytime there's a change order and has to go through myself for approval as part of their
048process, that is just that. Done. Well, we have to approve. The board has to approve it before we send it off to the state education department. So they receive these forms that are required to be signed off after the board. Is your question? Yes. It goes to the New York State Education Department, but rarely do they reject the change order. Um, it would it would have to be something frivolous. Um, and obviously special situation. So any of the changes we're doing, it's in line with the project and like the state. So it's always covered in so many different aspects. And within our construction budget, they anticipate these types of things happening in these, uh, unforeseen conditions. So there's always a contingency within each type of project budget to account for future change orders which are
049likely to occur. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, so now we'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action item number three. Rejection of bid and authorization to rebid wastewater treatment plant. Operator. Yes. You all know that action items, uh, D3 and D4 are related. So we were notified by our our operator that they were terminating our contract, um, prompting a new bid to be issued for replacement operator. However, only one bid was received and considered excessive in price. And our consultant that we use in these matters is recommending that we reject the bid and rebid it. Um, in the interim, you'll notice again in the next action item, D4, that our current operator is willing to remain in place until a new operator is appointed. However, the
050requested an increase in price, and you may recall a similar experience back in fall with their drivers education program provider, um, where they also requested an increase in their competition during the time in which we're, uh, replacing them. Um, it's also important to note that the wastewater treatment plant is, um, operated by the district, that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection actually pays for about 75% of the cost operated pursuant to an agreement from, I believe, 2000. So the, uh, the net cost, uh, of all of this, again, will be an action item for, um, with the new operator agreement, it's about $6,000 a month, of which Brewster's portion of the $2,000. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item, Scott? An emotion or something? A second.
051Does anyone have any questions or comments? Um, so. There's a very limited pool of people that do this type of work, because I know the town itself has turned over their water off quite as I think three times as in the last five years. Did they give any mention on why they're doing another? Just similar to the drivers, that it's just the cost operate that they were subject to a, uh, uh, contract from a bid price from several years ago. And with the inflation that's taking place, it just wasn't cost effective for that to continue into the agreement. Um, and we're hopeful that actually our current operator will actually participate in the bid this go around because they actually, uh, seen from the the bid process the last. Alright. So they at least will have
052at least two participants this time. And God forbid someone does a bid for the new one of the four people running it now will just temporarily run it if they don't agree to it. Well, we're again, we're hopeful that they'll participate in that process now. Um, and obviously, you know, knowing that there's a willingness for the district to, uh, you know, to work with them. I hope that they'll participate in the bid this time around. Thank you. And the questions or comments. Let's go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action item number four. Addendum to 20 2425. Agreement. Wastewater treatment plant operator. And. Yep, yep. And again this is our an extension of our current agreement with H2O. Who's our current operator. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion
053and a second for this item? Jen on the motion made on the second. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Seeing none, we'll go to vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action. Item number five. Acceptance of insurance, recovery proceeds and budget amendment number six. Yes. So unfortunately, bus number 319, which was involved in an accident, a minor accident back in October, was declared. Uh, Total Fire Insurance Company. And the proceeds from the citrus recovery will be used to purchase a replacement for us. Um, so oftentimes, whenever there's any deficiency from the insurance company that told us, we, uh, deemed the, uh, accident back in for very minor. So we were surprised, um, that they declared it obsolete. But, um, the total that we've received, the insurance proceeds. And you'll see in the
054next, uh, action item listing related the disposal of bus number three. Negative. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item? Cynthia on the motion. Stand on the second. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Seeing none. We'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action. Item number six. Disposal of district property A technology equipment and B transportation vehicle. Each of these disposals are being requested in accordance with Ford Minute Policy 5250 disposal of district property. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item? Leonore in the motion. Gentleman second. Any questions or comments? See. Now we'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action. Item number seven. Authorization to a intervene in tax certiorari
055proceeding and B enter into inter municipal agreement with John of Southeast Sharon. Cost of appraisal. City. Yes, the town of southeast is defending a Texas charter proceeding, which will likely require an independent appraisal of properties in question. And in these rare circumstances and in the past, the cost of the appraisal split to town, which is the assessing authority, and the school district, which is an effective agency. The district's share of the appraisal is approximately $3,700. I submit this to you for your approval. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item? John. The motion. Scott on the second. Any questions or comments? Scott. Um, you know, if there's any pilot related to this property? No roads and relatively little property? No, there's nothing public. Any other questions or comments? You're
056seeing now. We'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Action. Item number eight. The second read. Policy number 6550. Leaves of absence. You cannot get them. Take them. Uh, policy 6550. Includes updates, employees survey on jury duty and who have notified the district before their service will not be penalized or discharged from work on account of absence related to juror service. This policy has been reviewed by our attorneys and is presented to the board tonight, uh, for a second week tonight. Okay. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for this item? Simply on the motion was on the second. Any questions or comments? This evening we'll go to vote. All those in favor? Motion passes six zero. Moving on to the consent chairman, Mr. Hancock. Yes. Thank
057you. So, just to board a few retirements starting to trickle in, especially with SEIU. Um, so I'd like to recognize, uh, a few members that, uh, Donna Caraway. Abby. Both Shriver will be retiring at the end of the school year after 25 years of service in the district. Um, and then next year's retirements. Elizabeth, this adored bus driver. 19 years of service. Uh, last Lineas, the HSA custodian after 30 years of service in the district and engineering and senior DHS cook. Uh, 24 years of service in this district since the retirement year. Uh, this year. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thanks to them as well. Um, can I have a motion and a second for this item? Discuss on the motion and Cindy on second. So we don't vote. They don't retire. Any questions
058or comments? All right. Seeing none, we'll go to the vote. All those in favor? Motion passes, six zero. All right. Just like that, we're at our second opportunity for public remarks. So this is not limited to action items or anything on our agenda. This is, um, an opportunity for, um, community to make public remarks on, um, whatever topic they'd like. And again, we just ask that you make your, uh, comments from the podium, direct your comments to the board, and every speaker has three minutes. Um, please don't identify, uh, district personnel or students in your remarks. So if anyone has any public remarks you'd like to share with the board, please do so now. All right. You don't have anyone in person. Um, but we do have a few emails, so we'll, um, close public
059remarks and move on to summary of, you know, communications. Okay. Um, and, um, April 25th, we received an email from a community member, um, expressing concerns about mixing the fan seating of the visiting team and home team at, uh, games. Is there a reason why we no longer use the visiting side? Um, and isn't the school staff members responsibility to de-escalate the fans on either side? Yeah. Thank you. Um, both Mr. Berto and I, um, communicated with this community member who shared that, um, part of the reason why we have, um, all the fans sitting on one side is that. So there are no, uh, way fans sitting behind our bench. Um, we also, uh, shared that not only do the Chaperons receive training, but anyone who has any concern about any escalated fan shifts
060find where the Chaperons or Mr. Broad or Mrs. Runners who are always on. Okay, and another email also received on April 23rd, um was from a community member stating that they had heard a few concerns regarding some 11 elements of the um design of the Capitol project, and would like to respectfully ask the board to take a closer look, look at some of the completed or if Congress elements, particularly the security vestibule and its functionality. Um, and saying that it's important to maximize the investment by focusing on practical, cost effective solutions. Um, and another comment in the email was wanting to, uh, say thank you for staying well below the allowable plus 4% tax cap. Um. Thank you. So I may ask Mr. Carlson to fill in any, uh, any blanks here. Uh, but, you
061know, throughout the process, ever since the, um, the design was, uh, put forward, uh, we had user groups that helped inform with that design. Looks like, as well as to help fill in the details. We've most recently, the user group was brought back, um, and toward the security vestibule. Um, there are punch list items of the architects are dressing also been furniture and other fixtures that have been ordered to, um, make sure the functionality of that space is what we're, we're hoping for. Um, but we, you know, we'll continue to listen to our staff and see what we can do to as much as any new space. And we, you know, thank the community member for their, you know, respectful suggestion. Uh, we most definitely are committed to maximizing every tax dog purchased. Yeah. Okay.
062Um, so, uh, we are at, uh, for remarks and committee updates. Does anyone, um, well, actually, I'll start off tonight. Tonight, I am very pleased to present to our very own Scott Seaman. Um, a an award from this Post Board Excellence Recognition Program, which is designed to acknowledge those school board members who strive to continually expand their governance, knowledge and skills. Um, being on a school board, believe it or not, is more than just sitting at this table. And one of the key components of any good school board member is a willingness to learn what the role is and what it is not, and how they can better perform the tasks of a school board member, all for the purpose of giving our students the absolute best that we can give. And Scott is all,
063you know, so willing to learn, always going to training. And as you know, he was in the meetings, going to meetings, always putting himself out there to improve himself as a board trustee. So this is just one example of that. And I have a certificate, a board mastery award to Scott Seaman. Um, recognizing more than 250 points for your ongoing association, professional development and or leadership roles. And most importantly, along with this certificate is one a coupon code one complimentary training. I don't know, I mean, no one deserves this more so. Oh, geez, I don't care. Portfolio. Yeah, that's the whole deal. Yes. You got a yes? Yes, sir. Yes. God, I love that. Question. Thank you, Scott, for everything that you do with save the district money. Yeah. Uh. Um. Okay. Does anyone else
064have any, uh, updates or any updates or. I'd like to share. I have a just. Okay. I have a couple of these I just want to recognize first, and then I do want to just sit down there. Um, first of all, congratulations to Alice. Um, it's amazing that we are in middle school watch. And, um, it's great to see, um, see all the work you've done highlighted. Um, it's such a great sale. So congratulations and kudos for all the work you've done for that. That's the thing. Um, I also want to just, uh, the Mushroom Awards are really a huge deal for performing arts World. Um, so I'm really, uh, excited to see that we did so well with so many nominations there. It really illustrates how impressive our arts program is, not just performing
065arts, but I am so happy to help set design and all the other stuff too. So, um, congratulations to all of well, to our whole arts department there. Um, also, I was excited to read in our board update that my classmates, everybody was, um, if they adopted into our post, our New York State sophomore, Holly, um, she was an amazing softball player, said. And I'm sure she still misses Claire now. Many not that many years later. Um, uh, and then so there's my kudos. I do have two questions that were brought to me by the community recently one. Um, one of the questions I was asked actually last night. Oh, that was, I think last night we went to I went to the, um, curriculum meeting last night. Uh, well, thank you for all of
066the, um, information. And, um, it was very well done and very clear. And I feel like people had another question to answer, so that was awesome. But when I started the board election and board vote, um, important budget vote. Um, one of the questions that was asked is how do you vote if you're not gonna be here? And I tell you, and I suggested this new board, but I just put it out there. Is there an absentee ballot? Is it really step one? Is that right? Um, so that's one action. And the other question, um, that someone asked me was with the pre-K waitlist. Um, they're trying to figure out childcare for next year. Um, is there a timeframe on when people will know when they're off the waitlist? Um, as childcare is becoming more
067difficult for sure. Yes. We actually, um, just late last week, um. Looked at the list again. Um, and then we've been having ongoing conversations. Um, we don't want to promise anything until after the budget vote. One. Um, and then number two, um, we're still waiting for, um, uh, a couple of pieces of information that we have given a deadline. Now, you know, by the end of this week. So after the budget vote, um, we will get that information out. And, um, we know that the, uh, you know, the urgency to do this with this. Second question was on the absentee ballots, which I believe. On the website. Here are the links to everything. Both. Okay. All right. So if anyone is anyone is looking for, um, an absentee ballot if you go to the schools,
068just the school district's website is a separate office, just a bar at the top of the bar, at the top of the page. So, you know, everything's just there. Anyone else? Yes. Most likely, graduate wells are just an incredible accomplishment and they should be applauded for it. So it's good to see that it's coming out of August. Trust school next Tuesday, 6 to 9. You have all day to. Please get out. Generally all right. So very long turnout. So we appreciate all the votes coming out to vote. I'd also like to point out that this is our second Covid graduating classes. If they went to four year college cosmetology I know I actually and my daughters graduated college. So now they're getting their actual credits, which I just want to highlight that nobody know that,
069you know, they survived. And. Okay, I have one more thing. Um. We talked. We've talked several times about the, um, student ex-officio board member. Um, that was started in July. We had our board meeting. Um, we, uh, there was a presentation on how they're going to these interest meetings and how kids can voice their interest. Um, and there's a committee that's going to sort of do these interviews and ultimately decide who they would recommend. And I think and it makes sense for there to be a board member on that committee. Um, and I wanted to suggest, because the interest that he's already shown, he's got to be that board members. So I wanted us to, you know, talk about that and maybe somebody else wants to do it, you know, and just shout out to
070first, do you guys, uh, how do you feel about having her on? So I guess the selection committee, for lack of a better word, is and that's our goal, I think our and to go, yeah, we approved it. This is really sort of the, the um selection process which we approved that proposal that was um, I don't know if was our last meeting or the meeting for that. Um, Doctor Johnson is smaller presented. So we as a board agreed because we can we can, um, uh, designate other people to use these on this process that they would fire, that they would follow to select, you know, the kids and have their interest. Um, and then, yeah, then it comes to an ultimate point where a group of people are going to decide it's teachers, administrators.
071And we thought that it may make sense to add board members to that. And so, um, is everybody on board with us? And I think we be more than one. I don't know. It's that one board member just to know what to say to us. Yeah, I think I mean, I think there's a good mix of different people sleeping on us. The only other districts do it in all the way. There's some places, I think only a tiny percentage of board people, and the majority is the high school principal. And in the high school administration supposed to like our school representative? The schools that have been doing this for years have done in that fashion. But of course, we cannot do anything, you know, to pass the board on once. Well, I guess my concern
072is to ensure that our role in doing this and, um. Yeah, we are. Yeah, it's completely appropriate one way to do this, the way that we're doing it and we approve that process. So was just sort of an add ons to board member us. Okay. So, um. What? If I tell you to start to use this, I'm going to get into that. No, I'm not saying that. Okay. Uh, anybody else want to do it or. Yes. Or somebody else who was interested in doing it? I would prefer it. There is somebody interest I know. Okay, so is everything. Okay. That's great. Okay. All right, so Will. You're okay. Would you not bring everything back to the border? Perfect. Sounds great. Okay. Uh, anyone else have anything on, uh. Okay, let's move on. Um, to our
073upcoming meetings. Um, we are having a work session on May 20th. Um, I believe it's at 7:00. Work session? Work sessions are open to the public. Um, so you, you know, we have you here. I'm sorry. And I'll see you at the ILC, and it will be noticed. It will be on the notice, but it will be in the future high school, the ILC that is open to the public. And that's an opportunity we're going to be discussing. Um. The, um, construction projects and things for those that work will also feature in the facility prior to that meeting. Um, and then our next regular meeting is May 28th. Uh, so those are our upcoming meetings. And as always, if anyone has any remarks that they'd like to share with the board, uh, you can and
074the superintendent, you can do so by sending an email to BOE at Wooster schools.org. Uh, so we just need an number. We just need a motion to adjourn meeting in a second. It's not on the motion, gentlemen. Second. All those in favor? Motion passes, six zero. Thank you everyone. Have a good night. Make sure you get out and vote.