001I had like to pull to order the January 22nd meeting of the car place Board of Education All. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I Of the United States of America to Republic Nation. Under honor, this will Justice. Justice All. Please state, Uh, standard Heaven. Father, we in vote by blessing on all in attendance here and on those we serve. Help us to bring wisdom and mandate to our deliberations and my spirit to Our work. Thank you. You may welcome to the January 22nd meeting of the Corporate Board of Education. Trustee Zino cannot attend tonight's meeting due to illness. We'll start with comments from the board and I'll bring the lead. Welcome everyone. It's nice to see a full housing person. This is a good site. I would like to thank the Car Place
002Education Foundation for the donation of 736050 cents for the codeable books that we'll be using in the Rush for resource room. These books specialize in, uh, Reading Skills. I'd also like to share our couple congrats. One is the Rushmore Math Olympian participants who scored a perfect 100. They are Kate Kura, Ani Core, Rahi Core, Derek Chen, Laura Lee Clancy, Jacqueline Scarpa, Jason Lana, Malia Leon. Congratulations. I'd also like to congratulate, wish, well, I know it's happening tonight or probably halfway done. The Varsity Wrestling team today in the Nassar County Dual Championships playoffs. We wish them all the best of luck. I'd also like to congratulate SUDO for receiving the Scope Support Staff Service Award well deserved. I'd also like to congratulate Jen Bino per tenure and her position as Executive Director of Technology To Vice
003President. Good evening everybody, and thank you for ing. Um, congratulations, Jen, on your tenure. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to making our place the very best. I would like to wish our Rushmore students participating in the projection of re Shrek this weekend. And the very best of luck. We can't wait to see their hands, their hard work shine on stage. As a reminder, parent University will take place on January 29th. There is still time to register and families can sign up through our district website to attend a variety of informative sessions. And I'm also incredibly excited for our robotics team as they prepare to compete. I believe it's the Locus Valley. Yes. Okay. January 29th. Best of luck to our students. Go frogs. Yes. I'm gonna turn it over, trustee. Thank you. Yes.
004Um, rats, uh, Jen, I'd love to probiotics. Very excited. Very excited for next weekend. Um, and thank you so much Dr. Barry. Know, sharing, Dr. Conni, everyone who's been involved in, uh, robotics and this, uh, the latest endeavor of an FTC robot. And, um, I know, speaking to my son and John, very excited about. So, um, midterms, regens, we, uh, basically almost, almost wrapped up. We're, we're almost there. One more. I know. I know. Um, can't, can't forget about math. I know. Um, but, um, I know the kids are working really hard. Uh, and thank you for, to all our teachers and all staff who has prepared them so well for, for this week. Uh, registered Preparing University. I know Vice President Rear just mentioned that. I know I registered tonight as soon as I
005got home and before I came here, I, I, uh, I went and did that on the 29th. It was an amazing experience last year. I'm looking forward to it again this year. So, you know, thanks to all those who've been, uh, involved in that, um, fine performing Arts Hall of Fame, uh, nominations are available until Friday the 13th, February the 13th. Um, so if you had, you know, someone who, you know, fit, fits the bill there, um, play Bill as it were. Right. Um, please make sure that you, you, you wrap nominated now. Um, thank you. Good evening everybody. Thank you for coming out. Um, I wanted to congratulate Jen, best of the best, um, for getting tenure. And, you know, it's, it's not easy getting tenure. I mean, I guess it is easy if
006you're great, but, you know, but you know, as teachers, you know, we work hard for it. You know, it just, it's a testament to who we have in this district. Kind of great staff, um, great educators, and, you know, I'm lucky that my children get to, you know, go through the schools and experience all of you guys. So, thank you. Um, I wanna give a shout out to all custodians and people that are gonna be working really hard this weekend with the snow. Hopefully it's not too bad. Um, but thank you for all that you guys do, and, um, have a nice, have a nice meeting. Good evening everyone. Thanks for coming. Um, last week, the National Honor Society hosted midterm mania, a week long tutoring service for middle school students, students who are part
007of National Honor Society, tutor middle school students in all subjects during their lunch periods and extra help last week helped prepare for midterms. Additionally, students in middle school and high school, I've been working hard this past week, studying for all their exams. And the second semester starts on Monday and this weekend as an exciting weekend. Rushmore, as their show musical is this Friday and Saturday. And make sure you support the students who have worked hard and watch the show. And now we move. Thank. And now we will hear comments from Dr. Keno. Alright, thank you Madam. P Um, so as everyone knows, MS is getting tenure tonight. And it is an important moment when you get to confer tenure. When a board of education gets to confer tenure on one of our staff members, one
008of our very important staff members. And as a superintendent, I get the privilege of making that recommendation. Um, Jen is part of our cabinet, which is the leadership of the district. And you are a leader. You have intelligence and integrity. We trust you, you guide this district and keep us instructionally strong. The the technological assets that our kids enjoy comes from you and your staff working in concert with us. The fact that our program is safe and secure and you know, is guarded against all of the nefarious people out there who want to get inside of it. Also down to you and your staff and the way you run that department. I know that we are better off as a school district. I'm better off as a superintendent and our children benefit from your work
009here. That's why the board is going to take action tonight. Congratulations that you've earned it and there's a gift for you back there. It's kind of heavy, so we'll leave it there. It's perfect. Two things. Um, also, I want to welcome a whole bunch of our colleagues who are here tonight because of our unsung department. Showcasing these are departments that, you know, everyone knows the math department and the English department, but you don't necessarily know library media science, or you might not know family and consumer science or all of the important work that our mental health professionals do that people who work with kids in smaller groups do. You're going in here about tonight. So thank you everybody for being here. Um, this is because of the hard work that you do on behalf of
010our students. That's a really, really big deal. Um, and athletics, intuit, our wrestlers are sweating it out. Like Mat right now in Oyster Bay in the playoffs, working really hard, hopefully pinning somebody down and arm barring them. Exciting. Um, as you know, Shrek tomorrow night at Rushmore and Saturday afternoon, it's a sold out show. How cool is it that an elementary school has a sold out show? Very exciting. I'm looking forward to being there myself tomorrow night. You know about robotics. You know that parent university is happening. Um, registration is growing and growing. There is still time to register for the folks at home and the folks in the room. And you're gonna hear it here first, we're doing something special that we haven't done before. Anyone who registers and attends will be eligible to
011win VIP tickets for the show of their choice at their school or another school in the district. So it would be a nice package of tickets and a little swag to kind of make your show more enjoyable. You have to register and you have to show up, but we're gonna have it right. That's the important part is actually being there. But we're gonna have a drawing on that night. If anyone who has registered, There's a homework. Oh, also for your kid, or six students, if you register and show up, your child will get a homework pass at their, at the moment of their choice. So if you have one of those days when you wake up and like, oh my goodness, I didn't do my homework. Pull out that desk. It's not. And our old
012and oh my goodness. So many things for our high school students. If you have a high school student, you earn credit towards battle of the classes and not to be outdone for our middle school friends. If your mom and dad sign up and they attend, you will get a free snack at the winter, winter formal. So lots of incentives for people to come to parent. University spots are filling up, but there are still places registered now. Very excited. Um, I'm ready for that. There's gonna be music, music, any robotics demonstration. What else could we possibly do? Stay tuned. We'll see what happens. There's a bunch of awesome learning that happen as well. That concludes my report. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you Dr. Penoni. I would also like to welcome Evan Collins, who is our
013permit sub. Mr. Knight. Welcome. Okay, we'll continue with our meeting. Public comment. Disclaimer will be read by Trustee Board of Education allows, uh, time the conclusion of the regular meeting, comments from residents Attendance. Please note that any person wishing to speak during this time shall comply with all provisions of board policy. Although a total of 30 minutes is allowed for comments, the board president has discretion to adjust the total time. We remind you to keep your comments to three minutes and to conduct yourself in respectful manner. Please address school matters only and refrain from addressing topics related to personnel matters or individual students. Such concerns should be discussed privately with the superintendent or administrator at an appropriate time. Uh, the board is here to listen and cannot provide immediate feedback or engage in open dialogue.
014Any necessary follow up will be voted and provided at a later date. If there are any comments from the public on agenda items only, please come to the podium and state your name and address. Yes. Okay. We will now continue with the business of the meeting. Okay. We will have the first presentation on some department showcase. Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you to the board of Jackie County for having this, this evening. For anyone that I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, I'm Lee Shaw, the assistant superintendent, a curriculum instruction innovation. And tonight, we all of us wanna highlight our departments whose work is essential to student success, but not always easy to quantify and offer. Not at the forefront. These departments don't just support academics. They support students and families ensuring our students
015are successful in school and beyond. And tonight we wanna make their impact visible. Um, Sorry. Yeah. Uh, you'll notice tonight our mission is alive in the work being shared. Our educators, um, from our unset departments demonstrate them to supporting the whole child. These teachers and staff members work collaboratively with students, families, and the team surrounding each learner to ensure every student is known, supported, and exposed to the world at large and feeling empowered. In order of appearance tonight, uh, we have Dr. Joyce Barry, our interim director of STEM B. Um, Ms. Jen Bambino, our Executive Director of Technology, um, Mr. Justin Block, uh, could not be here this evening. He's in the playoffs with our team, so I'll be speaking on his behalf. We have Ms. Jen Sussman, our director of SPED and ENL, Dr.
016Phil nar, our assistant superintendent of SPED and ENL, and Mr. Anthony de Blassio, our Director of Guidance as we celebrate our unsung departments. Tonight, I'm reminded of this quote, children must be taught how to think, not what to think. That's exactly what these teams do. They help our students think critically solve problems and grow as independent learners, all while supporting families and whole School community. The departments represented here tonight create meaningful experiences for our students. They provide access to learning both within and beyond the walls of the classroom, and do so as an integral part of the larger collaborative dedicated to student success. The UNSU subject departments here this evening are technology, education, business, our Rushmore STEM Enrichment Library, media Specialists, family Consumer Sciences, English has new language, speech and our guidance. Social workers and
017psychologists. The common thread you'll hear this evening for uncertain departments, they provide a real world experience and exposure to the world outside. They provide skill development to access the curriculum and feel a sense of belonging. And they align their work to the portrait of a graduate competencies and prepare our students for the future. Good evening. I'm thrilled to share A snapshot of what we see in our classrooms and in our district. Starting at Cherry Lane. We're very fortunate that our youngsters are involved in some project based learning where they're able to experience and, and explore STEM and their social studies and ELA components. With that, they then move on to Rushmore. And we have two outstanding educators, Claire, so, and Julie Tusa, who give the students additional enrichment in Claire Song's class. She does a
018lot of work with them on, um, working with the computers, uh, doing some coding. She has incorporated a lot of hands-on experiences where she correlates that with their classroom experience. Very often you're gonna remember your experiences when you have those hands on out of the classroom, different types, types of opportunities. This is what our students get in our enrichment class. Mrs. Tesa works with our students in a stem. I call it more of a messy science, um, experience, where the kids go in and they're able to go and explore at that next level. And they'll blow things up in a safe environment and tie that to their science and math lessons. Both outstanding experiences. And it's really wonderful to see the kids, um, entering the room, sharing out, you see them sharing throughout building what
019they've experienced. Moving on now to the middle school, high school is our technology education. Technology education can be, um, interpreted in many ways, but when we really look at that real, real world connection, this is where the students learn how to do many of the, um, jobs and experiences that you're gonna have to do in your own house. Right? Um, this is where our students learn how to build, how to use a lot of modern manufacturing tools. Now our our kids are working in Mr. Um, toner and Mr. Mrs Norman's class using 3D printers. We're using a computer aid design cad. It becomes very fluid for the students. They have a design process, then they have a build process. They go back and they, um, reevaluate and change it up. And then they have a
020testing. And in many cases, we have 'em challenge each other. Middle school works with the, um, the CO2 cars. And then at the high school, they're doing a lot of the architecture, build some of our beautiful, um, architecture projects at the, um, upstairs. And then we also have them using the laser engravers and some of the more really advanced equipment that you would find in industry. So as they leave our doors here, they have already been exposed to some really high tech materials and equipment, and thanks to them for doing that. And last, but not least within my supervision is our business department. And Mrs. Uh, Mrs. PUFAs, who has an outstanding business program going. And our virtual enterprise, our virtual enterprise, um, component this year is called Mercury. And if you ever have a
021chance, they'll, they'll sell you their product. Um, it's really great. But to see them, they really are building a business from the ground up. Uh, they do interviews. They, they put, put their pitch together. They were just at Long Island University for a VE conference, and they presented to, um, a team and then presented out to other schools from all over the area. With that, we also have our college career, um, finance, uh, college and career accounting, and then our career finance. As we move into the new standards from the state, um, personal finance is going to be a mandate. We are already doing a lot of that in our classroom. Wouldn't that be wonderful for our kids to understand what personal finance is all about? Um, and our students are already learning that. So
022we are really fortunate and we are so appreciative of our educators and the opportunities that the board has given us. So with that, I'd like to bring forward Ms. Thank you. Forgive me, I don't have my glasses, but do the best I can. They might take those in. So I'm here to speak on behalf of the library media specialist. Um, and I think when, I believe when people hear the word, the, whereas Library Media Specialists, they think of books right of room with books. There's so much more than that across our district, Mrs. Spite, Mrs. Nelson and Ms. Focus empower students to ask better questions, find reliable information, collaborate with others, and become independent learners. Um, these are the exact skills that align with our portrait of a graduate and like, critical thinking, collaboration, communication,
023and ownership of their learning. And this is happening K through 12. Whether it's a student that, um, that needs help, um, discovering a book that they can't put down, one my favorite things is to visit the librarians and watch the kids go pick out their books. And Rushmore and Cherry. It is amazing to see how excited they are to get a new book, um, or at the middle school high school, if it's Mrs. Fi, teaching them how to evaluate online sources and properly cite their research for AP classes or even in their middle school class, English classes or whatever research project they're doing. Or discovering and learning how to become a programmer, um, by coding BBOs or Blue Box. Our librarians are supporting student agency, giving students choice, voice, and confidence in their learning. When
024I ask the librarians to share a little, like, fun fact of something they're doing to make our district unique and help our learners, Mrs. Uh, Nelson told me that over the past few years, she noticed that some of the students were losing, um, interest or traction in their, in her fiction collection. So what she did was, in order to, um, help students locate what they're interested independently, which is something we want students to do, um, she decided to genre five the collection. So instead of locating books by the title, the author, the call number, students can now look for the books based on genre, something that they're actually interested in. And she said that it's quite successful. Um, and they, they ultimately find a book that they really enjoy reading. So our librarians aren't just
025managing books, even though I said gave a book example. Um, they're intentionally designing learning experiences that are accessible, like teaching our students to find materials that are accessible to them, that are engaging to them, and also meaningful to them. So, very proud of our library, um, media specialists, just like all the other departments that are showcased tonight and across the district K to 12. Thank you. That's so, when we talk about student success in our district, we have to talk about our e and l teachers. I need to switch, I didn't say this wrong. I'm new at this. Sorry. There we go. Yes. Did it. Our email team does so much more than teach English. They open doors, they make sure students listen, speak, read, write, and truly belong behind the scenes. They're co-planning, co-teaching,
026translating, interpreting, tracking progress through Tel and nice lab supporting social emotional growth and partnering with families often all in the same day this year, they will be, they will push learning into real world through field trips, clubs, extracurricular activities. All this will help students create, um, confidence that builds agency and also promote student voice. These are not add-ons, they're lifelines. Our ENL teachers are truly unsung heroes. The extra students don't just learn English, they gain opportunity. And now, before I go to the next, I would like to give a little shout out to Ms. Iza over there, just because she is representing our speech department. So very, very So really at the heart of learning communication is our really our own speech thought pathologist that they really help make this possible. They help students understand
027language, express ideas, regulate emotions, participate confidently in classrooms and in life. Their work touches every academic area. They collaborate with teachers, families, and students to strengthen communication. What makes their work so special is that they don't just help students say more. They help students be more confident, independent, and connected. Our speech team changes outcomes quietly, consistently, and powerfully. They are truly our unsung heroes also in this, in this school district. And just to put some names to this incredible work, we have Ms. Risi who this year is getting her doctorate degree. Very impressive. In Atory recall, Ms. Rell, she collaborates hand in hand with her secondary life skills students. Um, and teachers really help them generalize communication skills across the real world. Ms. Mcr, she uses something called specialized Prompt speech therapy. And Ms. Iza
028has been researching the impact of mood and miscommunication on student performance, all also while co-teaching professional learning sessions for our teachers as well. Together, this team ensures our students don't just find their voices, they learn how to use them with confidence to a purpose. Thank you. Passed on to Mr. Block. Mr. Block. Um, so on his behalf, we really wanted to make sure that, um, we understood a lot about family consumer sciences and the amazing work of this ballot. So, in Justin words, family consumer sciences is all about giving students real life skills that they can actually use. Whether it's learning home and career skills, cooking and baking, building healthy relationships, or exploring future career paths. Our students are gaining hands-on experiences that matter. Along the way, they're learning practical skills like budgeting, nutrition, and
029communication skills that support not just academic success, but personal growth as well. This year, our program has taken students on curriculum based field trips, partnered with the Key Club to put at the Ronaldo McDonald House, hosted a seventh grade international food fair, and even baked cookies for the life skills core performance. We are incredibly lucky to have Erica fall leading our Family consumer sciences program. She truly understands what what's important for students to learn, and she brings that understanding into everything that she does. I am gonna briefly talk about our mental health staff at the elementary level, but I'm gonna start with a quote, which really goes for our K 12 mental health quotes. It's a quote from my mentor and Dr. Bill Clark, um, who was my mentor when I first became an administrator.
030And the quote was, you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. And I, I surround myself with some of the best, most professional, uh, mental health people that I've truly, that I've ever worked with. Some examples of how our mental health team provides support in the district. Uh, they provide one-on-one and small group counseling. They support students with their academic and their social emotional as well as their mental health needs. They consult with parents, teachers and administrators. They participate and or Chair CSEs, sub CSEs 5 0 4 meetings and CPSE meetings as well. They conduct mandated and non-mandated evaluations for our students, and they are leading and supporting the district wide initiative of leader and me. And they have been from day one. In addition, here are just a few specifics
031about each one of our mental health folks only at the metro level. Louisa Co. She is our guidance counselor. She's split between Cherry Lane as well as Rushmore, um, avenue School. She provides students with a safe, confidential space where they can seek her out for support. She developed a sixth grade advisory that focuses on social emotional learning, and she conducts weekly student checkins to discuss weekly highlights, uh, and ongoing, you know, potential challenges that they might be dealing with. Mr. McMichael, he is also, he is, uh, our social worker who is split between Cherry Lane and Rushmore. He supports our family by connecting them with appropriate outside agencies, uh, to support either family needs as well as individual student needs. And he advocates for families to receive different services between the Nassau County Department of
032Social Services, St. Vincent de Paul, and other various agencies as well to support, um, again, our families and our students. Dr. Michelle Ula, she is our CPSE chairperson for the district. She was also the CSE chairperson at Cherry Lane Elementary School. She supports our families when they're first entering in. So when families are coming in with their little chairs that are only two and a half years old, they are, they are meeting, uh, Dr. Ula for the first time. She begins to walk them through the process, um, during a, you know, such a sensitive time. And Dr. Ula really helps the students make the transition from the preschool special education to the school age, uh, special education as well. In this, this current school year. Um, this was the first time she was sharing that
033she co-led an in-service with Ms. Jen as well. One of our speech teachers presented a research based mood boosting strategy for both professional practice and personal wellness. And the feedback this was provided to our staff here in the district, and the feedback has been phenomenal. And Mary Jo Delino, she is our psychologist in the Rushmore Avenue School. She share our CSE meetings. She has developed a mindful Monday, uh, where she's offering guided meditations to support staff and students with their mental health and their wellbeing. And she puts it over the, the PA system. Uh, additionally, she provides ongoing professional learning for staff members on mental health conditions. 'cause she stands strong and I agree with her. Um, the more informed adults are, they have a more powerful impact on student growth and their outcomes. Mr.
034Gladio. Okay, so following up Dr. Dealing at the secondary level as we continue highlighting the incredible people who make a difference behind the scenes, I'd like to recognize our secondary school counselors and school psychologists. Uh, Dr. Bri was here with us tonight. They play a vital role in keeping students safe, supported them on track. Our secondary school counselors, Ms. Mulloy, Mr. Vela, Ms. Dawson, Mr. Santoro play a key role by guiding students academically, supporting their wellbeing, responding in moments of need, planning for life after graduation, and partnering closely with families and staff. They're also helping to strengthen student agency, working with students to better understand what it means to take ownership over their goals, decisions, and learning so they can leave Cates not only prepared, but confident in their ability to advocate for themselves and
035lead. In addition, our secondary school psychologists provide essential support that helps students succeed emotionally, behavioral academically. Ms. Witz and Dr. Farino help identify students' needs through evaluations, chairing CSE meetings to ensure strong support plans are in place, provide counseling and targeted interventions, work closely with staff, home classroom strategies, and support student safety when urgent situations arise. What truly makes them heroes in my mind, is how they show up for students beyond the school day. Whether it's coaching, football, supporting the track team, advising grade levels, leading the set club, and the environmental level, helping foster leadership in our students. They don't just step in when something is wrong. They build relationships consistently and proactively simply because they care. So, thank you. So I just wanted to say thank you everyone for being here tonight to the
036board Dr. For giving us this opportunity really to share the amazing work with our faculty, um, especially the ones that are not often at the forefront of our board presentations and our data meetings. And, um, it is a pleasure to work with such a dedicated faculty and staff and team of directors as well. And we just really wanna say thank you for everything you do, and we're really grateful to have such a collaborative, supportive team of faculty. Thank You. Um, well, we'll just have some quick comments. Thank you very much. It was very informative. It was great to see the modular version of all the unsung departments, given that the students are challenged in the model that we live in, and their, and the culture is more like instant satisfaction. It was very nice to
037hear the learning process of all the different areas that they go through. It's the process that's gonna be the game changer for the future of our students, because now they'll have contrast of what they're used to with instant satisfaction and going through the process of thinking from beginning to end or middle to end, or middle to almost that. That's great. Um, the other area is also the sharing of knowledge of the support system that we have for the students in various aspects and ways. You know, we always take for granted it's there, it's there, but when we hear it all, it makes the biggest difference in the world. So thank you all To, um, I think, I think it deserves to be sung more often, right? Right. I mean, I think, uh, just some of
038my notes here, um, you know, different applications of the word messy, I think it is. And I think in a very good way that Barry's point, right? Genrefy the books, right? Or, um, my, my 5-year-old, her favorite day of the week is when she goes to the library. So she's, she's not using the word genrefy yet. We're gonna work on it for next four meetings. Um, but I love what stands out to me as the independent research part. Um, and then if I could read my own handwriting, uh, I, you know, I said these are the things that we should be singing more often, of course, you know, with the full compliment of what the district is doing for all of our kids. Um, and, uh, my my comment was these are things that are
039sort of the glue in that way, right? You know, these are the arenas in our, in our, um, district world. A lot of times we're applying the math, the science, right, the, the, uh, the technical writing, right? The literacy that spans all those, those different areas. Um, so I think that, and it worth sharing towards the support that that requires of all the staff that, you know, many of whom are here tonight to make that leap in some cases, for each kids to go from, you know, content specific classroom like math or science, to then, you know, applying it in one of these, you know, unsung areas. Um, but, uh, but I really, we, we appreciate the work. I can, I can tell you, I really thank you pretty much. Yes. You're all doing a
040spectacular job. And I, I give for your dedication, do without you, it's gonna do without you. And, um, again, so much appreciation. I know for myself, to you, thank you that we have the best staff and educators in the district, but not district, the county, I should say the world. But I mean, everybody's a piece of the puzzle. And without the unsung heroes, um, I don't think that parkway would be as good as it is. So thank you. Really quickly, everybody who was mentioned tonight, I, I'm grateful to have the pleasure of working with them because I know firsthand the work that they do for our students and with our students. And just because you're here tonight, Mr. Michael and Dr. Za and ms, we have worked together on things like parent university. We've been
041on committees together. I have gone to you to seek advice for dilemmas that I have, right? We've been through some sad times and some happy times together. And, and what you all do goes in spades for all of your colleagues. And just thank you being here tonight. And you know, how lucky are we to have folks like this work around behalf of four kids? So We'll continue with our presentation. The next one is the HPAC Bond project update presented by Joanna, President. I'm Monica. I was wondering if you want, so sometimes we, we let folks go when we've gone through kind of like the general, um, the general presentations, like, you know, I know we might have a student or two here and some of our colleagues. Oh, yes. Um, if you would like to
042exit the meeting now, this Would be a nice one to, if not, You're more than welcome to stay. It's all up to you. No, You should. No, don't bad. Don't feel bad. See you. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good, All right, I'll try not to take the chanting. Go personally. Um, so I have the pleasure of giving two presentations tonight and one that doesn't even involve, we're gonna start the other. Um, so we have to give a little update on our HVAC bond project. I'm gonna start with the end. This does not have any additional tax impact to the community. So no additional tax impact as a result of this presentation. Um, just want everyone in that mindset before we talk about what happened and why. We'll look at what we've done so far
043and what our recommended solution is. So what happens? Competitive bids for our HVAC bond projects that was approved by the voters on October 24th, 2024 have come in higher than the authorized budget. So in order to complete the work, we need the voters to authorize the use of additional funds from our capital reserve. Again, this will carry no additional tax impacts the community, but we do need voter approval to spend the funds. So why did this happen? We see it in our own everyday lives. Materials authorizing construction info prices have increased for the past five straight months in a row. Um, and that's putting pressure on contract margins and it's complicating project budget. So the market in which we built this budget in time for a vote in October 24 is very different than the
044market that we are in now. And when we, um, did our competitive bid price volatility also creates procurement challenges, fluctuations in price, terror uncertainty. All of these things create unpredictability, um, to cost forecasting and to the fitting process. So you can see on the left the original project budget and where the funds were coming from, that $14.2 million on the right hand side. Um, our original bid in August of 2025 came in at 20.6 million. So what we did between our original bid and our rebid is we worked very closely with our architect and our construction managers to value engineer the project and bring the costs down. And we also separated out several components of the project as what they call alternates. That lets us, the advisors bid separately on 'em unless the district choose
045to award or not award those items in addition to the base bid. So that rebid pricing came in at $16.3 million. We also, uh, explored vendors on contracts available for piggybacking both New York State, Nassau County, um, that contract pricing payment at 17.1, so higher than our rebid internally. We closed out several, uh, completed capital projects and we transferred the funds back to our capital reserves that's required by law, um, to allow for future reauthorization. And then we shifted some priorities around in the general fund to make funds available to help offset the cost of this project. So that's related to funds that we had, not from 25 26, but actually from 24 25 that we have rolled forward with plans to, to complete some other projects. So those will have to be reworked into
046our planning for the future. Um, but at the end of the day, uh, our rebid plus the alternates because the board felt that we have to ask for more money just to complete the basement, um, that would not have included the ceilings, the removal of the existing unit ventilators and the auditorium hvac. So because we had to come out and ask anyway, we decided we should do all the work that we said we were gonna do. So the rebid plus those alternates less, the contribution that we were able to get from the general fund brings us down to 17,000,100. So we are recommending that, uh, we request authorization from the community to spend 2,950,000 from our existing capital reserves and to conduct the vote as soon as possible, which would be March 19th, 2026. So
047our reasoning for that is that the, again, authorization, if the existing reserve fund does not carry any additional tax impact, uh, the recommended amount allows us to complete the project in its entirety. So we don't have to go back and do work at a later date that we said we would do from the beginning. The sooner we can authorize the additional funds, the more likely we can avoid another new bid, which also costs the district money. And of course, there's no guarantee what the third new pricing will bring, and the use of the capital reserve funds will not impact any of the work that has already been authorized. So the Rush Law Auditorium, the middle school, high school, Jim Roof, our Mason new projects can all continue to happen. So please come out and go
048March 19th. This there 9:00 PM here in the high school, um, That I have on our project. Please. Thanks. Your, um, you explained the situation very well and, um, we look forward the, so now we'll let you, We, we'll get, we'll get do the public comments, questions when we do public comments Yeah. About the presentation and anything. Okay. Next, thank you. Um, Will continue With the next presentation, which is balancing vision and detail through leadership by Joanna. And, and this, this presentation is kind of, what's the word, parallel to the entry plan presentation that Ms. Shaw and Mr. Bennett did earlier this year is not new to the district, but as you know, her role has expanded. And it's a conversation about how that expansion adds a lot of value to what Ms. Martin is
049doing for us here in car police schools. I think you really covered my own perception. So thank you to the board for the opportunity to present tonight. Since I am not due to the district, this is structured a little differently than some of the administrator entry plans you've seen. Um, and maybe sharing how I'm approaching my role as deputy superintendent, my areas of focus and some short term goals. So the quote that embodies how I view my role and leadership in general is you can't see the forest for the trees. Uh, as leaders, we'd be doing a disservice if we spent all of our time focusing on either the forest, which is the vision or the trees, which are the details. If we look back at the pictures on the titles live, when you look
050at the forest, it's beautiful. But you can't tell from this view if the trees are healthy or the ecosystem is thriving. Um, but if you're only looking at that very detailed view of the tree trend, you might be able to tell if the tree is healthy, but you don't know if that's the only tree. You don't know what's on the other side of the tree. So again, we really need both the viewpoints and our goals for the district are built on that belief. Coupled with the idea of continuous improvement, as you can see, the aspects of our mission and vision, uh, that I'm focused on tonight are shaping future and creating a cycle of continuous Success. So there's three areas of strategic focus that I wanna highlight. And they reflect not only my observations and
051experiences at call place, but also insights from other administrator entry plans, committee recommendations, including public portrait of graduate and our overall district goals. And by bringing these voices and visions together, we can create a cohesive path forward towards improving student success. And one of the best examples of that is bridging that gap between education and operations. We have a strong handle on the big picture of operations and on the big picture of education. And continuing to bring those together will help us make better decisions and allow us to better adapt to change. When I talk about long range financial planning, uh, I always use the analogy of a ship. It requires a lot more time to turn a cruise ship than a speedboat. The district is a cruise ship. So the ability to see both
052the foreground and the background with clarity makes it easier to maneuver. Another area of focus is promoting a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. We need to track what worked, what didn't, and most importantly, why there's often challenges that come up cyclically. So, uh, to have that information documented will help us be more efficient. And the third area of focus is ensuring consistent and transparent communication that applies both internally within the district and externally with the community. Better our communication is the more likely we can prevent the problems Develop, Either are a few of the goals I would like accomplish within the next year or two. Uh, review the course catalog and meaningfully cluster coursework based on career paths. And I do wanna make a point that this is completely separate and apart from the
053New York State graduation Pathways, uh, the work will likely support the development of those pathways. But the reason for clustering coursework in this way is to really to create meaning and motivation for our students. So the idea is that you're not just taking math to check the math box 'cause you have to, but you're taking geometry or algebra because you wanna be an architect. Enhancing visitor management and automating student attendance. This is the goal that really lends itself to bridging that gap between education and operations. And we'll see that in a little more detail on the future slide. I want continue to align disability responsible budgets and long range financial plans with our operational and educational goals. And I want us to evaluate our mental health program, K 12, to identify opportunities and implement solutions.
054The strategies on the slide are ones that I believe are essential in order for us to see results, uh, plan to study after the PDSA framework is a continuous improvement cycle that's used to test and implement changes. Um, it's used as data to manage this through testing and continuously refine the process for better outcomes. And that's something Dr and I saw at the New York State School Boards Conference in a couple of different presentations. And we both really felt that it had a merit. Maintaining cabinet level accountability across all strategic initiatives, I believe is extremely important in education. We really love collaboration and rightfully so. Um, but having that one person own the initiative not only gives others involved to the point person, but it prevents things from falling through the cracks. Using technology to
055make data informed decisions, it's already happening. Our teachers do an amazing job with this, with our student assessment data. Where I think we have room for growth is using data to evaluate our district wide programs so that we can assure our resources are allocated effectively. Um, and I will stop to give a shout out to our administrative team here because I do think now we have the right people in the right places to really move the district program. And we also need that community component. And by facilitating and maintaining good communication can build trust and solve problems Together. So how do we measure success? Uh, we're gonna collect some baseline data compared to future data to track our progress. These are some examples of potential measurements based on goals. So dry, I can't, Sorry, Sorry.
056So for clustering course, we're based on career paths. A measure of success might be comparing student enrollment across pathways to our overall student body demographics. So of our student body, 50% male, but the enrollment in our STEM pathway, 70% male, we've inadvertently created a barrier there that we need to look at and refine to, uh, make it better. In evaluating our mental health program, we wanna track access to services, utilization outcomes, uh, enhancing visitor management and automating student attendance. We might look at achieving a targeted percentage of pre-screened visitors for district events and compare time and accuracy of manual attendance to an automated system. With regard to the budget and the long range plans and align with the district goals, uh, we may create a strategic line and score for the budget. And one of
057the methods of doing that is to go through each budget item and assign it to a category. For example, is it directly supporting district goals? Is it indirectly supported? Is it a mandated expense or is it something else? And the goal is to grow the percentage of expenses that are directly supporting district goals and lower the percentage that is that whole other, you can't be at a hundred percent, there's no good score. It's really just about the movement of the score over time. So I wanted to leave you with an example of the PDSA framework. Using the goal related to visitor management and team attendance. It's a proven, methodical way to move us forward enough. So with that goal in our plan phase, we'd be establishing those baseline metrics for visitor pre-screening and manual attendance.
058Um, for time and accuracy, we set improvement targets that prioritize our size, campus security and instructional time recovery in our due base. We implement those pre-screening for events and deploy the automated attendance system across the pilot front classrooms along with staff training. And then we've studied, we see what happens. We compare the, uh, pre-screen completion rates against the targets. We look at the time savings on the accuracy, improvements on the attendance side, and then we act, we can adapt, we can adopt, or we can abandon. So in this example, we're adopting where refining those workflows based on the data we've looked at, we're gonna scale things that went well, our successful practices and continue to give, uh, real time attendance data to connect real time attendance data to student intervention programs. And we'll do this
059over and over and over again until we get our desired outcome. And ultimately our desired outcome as a district is achieving deep focus, which is photography term that describes when both the foreground and the background are clear. So we are, what we're aiming for is not a wide focus or a narrow focus. It's a deep focus, focus on both the forest and the trees. I hope this gave you an understanding of how I'm viewing, um, things in my expanded role. Deputy superintendent, I am looking forward to continuing our work. And just like with our budget, we can't do it without the help of the community. So please look for ways to get involved, provide feedback to us and please help us reinforce our work. Thank you. It was a great presentation. Very informative as always.
060Um, to look at a, in a wide lens in a multidimensional 360 degree circle. Um, it was a great abstract analogy with all your detail. We look forward to see the outcome of the measurements and, um, complimenting the poet of philosophy of our district. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks, your honor. I think foreground background, very on branch for you. Very good way. It seems to really have, um, a good, a very good sense of, of both those things at once. And it's something we rely on, um, in a, in a big way as a community. I can't, I can't emphasize that enough. I'm trying to find the words to do with justice, but that there is, um, I just, just the point you made about the, the opportunity of, of down the line, right?
061For the development of, uh, pathways that would support our kids, um, in meeting what are, you know, new, you know, new ways to learn essentially, um, for us, um, in a lot of ways. Um, that was exciting. So I thank you. This position is a great fit and you know, a good Continue of the meeting. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the Board of Education business meeting of December 11th, 2020 5, 26, 25. Sorry, we're in 26th now. December 11th, 2025. May I have a motion? That motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. The minutes from the December 11th, 2025 are approved. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the Board of Education meeting of January 8th, 2026? May I have a motion? I'll make a motion. May
062I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. The minutes of the January 8th, 2026 or approved. May now for approval of the consent agenda, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion. Second. Again, all in favor A all are in approval of the consent agenda. If there are any questions or comments from the public from not regarding the agenda, please come to the podium. State your name and address Question regarding presentation. Yeah, no, Thank you. Uh, presentations were wonderful. I think. Um, they were very informative and we, I appreciate that they were given. I think blast that on Parents Square. This way everybody else knows, you know what, phenomenal work is being done. Um, Ms. Bambino, congratulations on your tenure. Um, thank you very much for dealing with me for one
063week with regarding my first grader's device, but we have a happy 7-year-old at home. Thank you much. Um, so, uh, Ms. Martino, thank you very much for the DiMartino. Thank you very much for all of your presentations. I came this evening with questions regarding, um, the, the bond vote. So, um, today this, this information is a little bit more clear now, however, I do have some questions. Um, you know, the community voted slim margin, 200 people voted 200 more people voted yes than no for the bonds in October of 2024. So, uh, it's a little eye-opening to see that it, the, the bond passed in October of 24, however, a bid was, uh, received and, you know, some, almost a year later. So I'm a little, you know, I left my finance degree aside and
064I went into teaching, but I'm just, you know, wondering if we vote on a bond for very, very, very much lower than what we are anticipating, you know, How, how, how does something like that happen? I'm just, uh, where, where is the inflation number coming from? I, I, I was trying to do the math quickly and listen to the presentations and it just, It doesn't, I don't know, it doesn't add up. Um, I, I understand. I see what you're, you're, you know, the presentation here, we voted, um, I believe it was, I wrote it down here. Uh, the, in October of 2024, it was, we were anticipating 16 point half percent from New York State Building Aid. Was that money received or did we get less than that? And at that time of the vote,
065we already, you were, we were already asking to use 3% of 3 million from the reserve. So if you're asking then for 3 million and now we're asking for another 3 million, how much is gonna be left in the reserve? And you know that question. Um, I don't know the time, I don't know the timeline and maybe the timeline should have been explained a little bit, um, more clear, you know, in October of 2024 for that vote, because I'm anticipating that maybe those numbers were from early October over earlier 2024. So that, that's a little concerning. Um, should I ask all my questions? Yes. Okay. My next question is, um, regarding something that Ms. Linda New Day, the upon cover of News Day today that, you know, Ms. Uh, Kathy is going to be giving
066three and have 3.8% more to school districts. Uh, I see here Car Place is gonna get a whopping 170,000. Um, you know, whereas other school districts, you know, get more money mid has, it's gonna get almost a little bit less than us. But I wouldn't compare our school district to an asset. So I'm just curious, how, how does this number, like where does this number of 170,000 come from? Um, and the last week's, last pre previous presentation, Dr. Kanoi, you had given the workplace, uh, work based learning update from November to pre present, present day. Uh, I did not find or hear how many students are currently participating in that program and what does it look like moving forward to the end of the school year. And Dr. Block's not here, but, well, Dr. Block
067keeps shout, uh, sending a spectator handbook, spectator information out through Parents Square. My question is, did something occur in the community that is prompting, uh, you know, additional, uh, information? Or is it just current climate around the world? Thank you. Sorry for all those questions. Yeah, let know, I can't Stand that. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Ms. Gunner, uh, first let me say I share your frustration with the timing between the vote and the bid. Um, it is largely due to the complexity of putting a transformer on district property and working that out with PSE and G. There's a lot of restrictions about how far the switch can be from the transformer and what was the best way and the most cost effective way to go about it. Did we have to add another hole? Um,
068so we, we went through that, uh, for a very long time with PSE and G. Of course, we had to also wait for state, uh, state head to approve our project. Um, so that is really what caused the majority of the delay in the project. But I also find it really frustrating, so I understand why. Um, we do still receive building aid, but you don't receive building aid until the building aid doesn't start flowing until the project is completed. So we haven't seen any of that money yet, but we will receive it, um, upon the completion of the project. And we receive that over, uh, 18 years, which is why we timed the bond as best we could to match up with the in the future. Our existing capital reserve balance, uh, as of today
069is six, a little over $6 million. So we have more than enough to fund the additional, um, money from our reserves. And we hope to have money at the end of the year to further fund our reserve to keep our improvements going in the future. That's 6 million and then we, we will potentially subtract 3 million. Correct. Which is what it's there for, right? We wanna, we wanna use the funds. We don't wanna just be saving them. Um, and, you know, we hope to keep, keep moving forward, keep funding and using to improve the district. Um, the numbers, I'm, I'm not sure if I fully understood or wrote down the right thing when you were asking about where the numbers come from. Um, the numbers are just generated probably competitive bid we received. So those
070are the numbers that the vendors across the four contracts that we're required to bid out, um, that's what they came in as. I guess the clarifying question would be, so when the bond was initially, uh, presented in September, 'cause it was September, August when we were talking about it and we voted in October. So the, the number of the 10 million at that time, where, where did that number come from? Okay, so the, I mean, the budget for the project came from our, uh, architect and our construction manager. And that was based on bids that were being, being received at that time. So they tried to price off of recent bid to project what, what your project's gonna cost and they do account for inflation. Um, it just wasn't the inflation that we ended up
071seeing. Uh, and the specific 10 million bond was in order to match up our debt service payment that we were making with a new net service payment. So that was the amount that fit with, so we didn't increase the taxes too much. Thank you. Um, state or you, you can, you can stay state. I'll do, I'll do six and seven. So for, uh, news Day State, the governor did just release her proposal. Uh, another disappointment right now, um, you know, districts we're only seeing, instead of last year, we had a 2% minimum increase in foundation aid. This year we're only seeing 1%, um, in the governor's proposal. So if you looked at, um, and I can share with you the state a runs for all the districts built, a lot of our surrounding districts also
072received that 1% minimum increase. So that might change with the legislative budget, but we do build our budgets based on the governor's proposal. So it will be a little bit of a challenge. Okay. No, it says here 2.2 0.74% in state aid. So I know it is, it's, you know, the media and you know, it's a different angle, but you know, it's a little eye-opening to see you're like, everybody wants to see where their district falls, home district, where they work district. So it's just a little 170,000. I don't know what you're gonna do with that, but I'm sure you'll find something good. Okay. Um, on the work-based learning front, yes, I will go back and check and let you know if I'm correct. Right now I believe what I said was that there were
073four students who have already begun. There were another 11 students in process. So I think that brings us to like 15 total. Um, Ms. Edgin and I met this week and we were talking about like projections for the year and you know, I don't have a hard number. I would love to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or so students actually participating. When you think of the size of our class, that's a lot of kids. Um, I will confirm with you, I think it's four already done. 11 more process, getting their paperwork squared away and stuff like that. Okay. And then thank you for asking. I appreciate that. And then as far as Mr. Block's, spectator messages, nothing specific that has happened here in Car Place. You know, students get excited during games, parents
074get excited during games, but we have not had any incident here at the moment. However, as you said, the general climate of things, people tend to behave badly at sporting events. Um, there was a Newsday article about that it is a major topic for the athletic directors around Nassau County and collectively they decided it would be good for them all to be on message together and send that message out to their communities surrounding. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Are there any other questions or comments from the public not regarding degenerative? Come to the Joe and state your name and address. I, uh, Joe Ricardo, 54 Bright Street Westbury. Um, happy New Year, everybody. Couple of things on the request. Um, I understand where you're at, I just don't understand how you got there. Um, the original
075proposition that we voted on was 13. Right. So my first question is, where did the 1.2 come from? That it is in your presentation. And when was that approved? I wait for answers and then I go to my next thing. Should I just give you all the questions? Sorry, all the questions out there, please. When did you get competitive bids? After the, after the, after the bond was approved. Do you, and my first question, my question before that is, do we have the same project management team on this that we've used for the past 13 years? Yes. Alright, so this is close to, 'cause I did it off your original 13. This is a 22% blow to what the bids were. And I know how good the person is who estimates jobs because we never
076went over a job before. Nowhere even close to 22%. And I know how that person manages a job, so I don't understand how this far, okay. Um, somebody needs to build their process. There's gotta be a hole somewhere. So when you got the bids and you knew that they were higher than the, the money that we allocated in the bond and the reserves, you continued to continue to proceed with the work, correct? No, we can't. Didn't the work happen over this past summer? We did Not. And when were we told that this whole thing was blowing up, Not going up? We had to wait for the state to approve it, But we were under the impression it was gonna start in 2025 over the summer. If you want to get more, I, I have to
077go back and look, but we need to, you don't need to do that. We, if you want to get all of your questions out, we will answer all of them in terms, so, okay. So nothing has been done is what you're saying? No work has been done, but we're saying it is over budget because of the bid. Okay. Have we funded the whole bond? I'm trying not to answer You. And if we did, what is the fund rate and how much did we fund of the projects? You mentioned the auditorium. I don't know what the second one was. Joanne, what was the second one? Uh, the, the Jim room Here. Has that been worked on this past summer? No. No, that still hasn't started. So the $6 million that you quoted in reserves, some of
078that goes to that project? No. That's extra minus the 2.9 that you want to allocate? Correct. Okay. How much of this is gonna be given back in a, after you complete the project and go back into reserve? Um, And like I said, I understand where you've got you are. I'm happy you're not asking for more debt, but I just think a gap like this, somebody's gotta look at the process. That's a huge hole. And inflation was 9%, not 22%. Thank you for your comments, Joe. We'll take your questions and we'll address your questions. Okay. So, uh, starting with the 1.2 million, so prior to the board's decision to move to an electric HVAC system in this building, we were planning on replacing the unit ventilators. So we did authorize the voters authorized phase one of
079the unit ventilator replacement project. Before we started that work, we decided we're gonna go electric. So we never started that work. And that money remains authorized because it's removal of unit ventilators. It fits within the scope of this HVAC project, which requires the removal of the unit ventilators. So that's where that came from. Uh, I'm glad we had it because it helped, uh, you know, offset these costs. So, uh, we got our first bid in August of 2025. Uh, we did our rebid in October. Like Ms. Brenner said, it's a very long time between there and it is the part of this project that frustrates me the most. But there is only so much we can do in meeting all of the requirements as far as placement for the electric, for the switch gear or
080the actual switch itself and trying to keep the cost as low as we can. So between working it out with PSE and G and submitting it and getting approval from SED, that's what took most of that time. Uh, we are working with the same project team. They use the same method to estimate their costs that they have done previously, which again, is looking at recent bids in the industry and putting an amount for inflation. The process we followed is what is required by law. It's competitive bidding vendors are allowed to bid as they see fit to complete the work, uh, based on the scope that they received from the architects. And that's where we ended up. And we did it twice because it seemed like a lot to us too. We were like, what we
081can't possibly be. So we did it again and we ended up in the same place. So, um, inflation in general is not 22% inflation in the construction industry is significantly higher. Um, and again, it's just been going up consistently since, since this started. We have not issued the bond yet because there are certain requirements as far as spending once you issue the debt. So we have only, uh, done our van, which is a one year, um, debt service to get things going. I do hope to start before this year is over. Um, again, because SED rule, we can't award the contracts until we have all the funding. So I can't do anything until I have all the funding for the budget. Um, and if yes, we can get 16%, uh, roughly 16, 16.6% back in
082eight, uh, it goes towards offsetting, um, the debt service expenses. Thank you. And this is a, this is a majority, this is a majority bond, a majority vote bond. So capital reserve. Oh yeah. Capital. This is a majority vote. Correct. And what's the contingency plan if, I know we all wanna be positive, but I I will play devil's advocate. What will be, what's the contingency plan? How, if it does not pass, I hope we don't end up in that situation. I, I wish we never ended up in this situation, but, you know, we'll go back to the drawing board and see. We're not gonna be able to do all the work that we said we were gonna do. So off the bat, it definitely means no new ceilings, no removal of the existing unit ventilators
083and no HVAC for the auditorium here. And then we still have to figure out what are we going to do to make up the difference. And then if we have rebid, then it's gonna, those projects gonna go even higher. So then we don't do it all at the same time. We're gonna be screwed. Excuse language That that's a very important piece that, that MS brings up. We're not saying that to hold anybody hostage. The trend seems to be that things will become more expensive. So the more swiftly we can act on this, the more chance we have of evading ever higher prices. Um, the, the amount of due diligence that got done behind this and negotiating and maneuvering with PSE and G and with the state education department and agencies that we are forced to
084work with was monumental. And then, you know, like, like the community, you can imagine the frustration that happens when we know that the delays that they're imposing on us mean that contractors are going to pass their costs on. To us, it's, it's a really, really difficult situation. Um, the fact that this doesn't impose a tax burden on this community is an important facts. And, you know, we have to make our decisions, we naturally are going to. Um, but that's why we wanted to say this now. Get this out in front of everybody. Give folks a chance to Ask questions. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from the public? Not regarding the agenda. I'm going to close the public session. I have a motion to close the public session. I'll second. All in
085favor? Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you very much for.