001Welcome to the Fredonia Central School Board of Education meeting for Tuesday, January 27th. We begin each meeting with the pledge to the flag. So, please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and justice for all. >> Okay. Looks like a pretty concise agenda tonight. Uh we need to first uh approve the agenda for the regular meeting of January 27th, 2026 with consent that includes personnel. That excludes B2 and also new business uh all all new businesses in consent. Could I have a motion to bring that to the table, please? >> So moved. >> Thank you. And a second. Thank you. Uh anything anybody like pulled tonight? Uh all in favor >> I >> opposed. Uh next we have
002our hearing from the public. Our first session boards reserve this time to hear comments from the audience. Those wishing to address the board are asked to stand. Give your name and address. Limit your comments to five minutes or less. Uh concerns and comments during this session should be directly related to the proposed agenda. Is there anybody that like to uh speak in the first public session? No. >> Glad to see you here, Mr. Way. Thank you. >> Um, we next need to approve the minutes from the regular meeting of January 13th, uh, 2026. Could I have a motion to bring that to the table? >> So, move. >> Thank you, Miss H. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any questions on those minutes? If not, all in favor? >> Opposed? Into our financial treasures
003report. We have uh budget, investment, and revenue reports. Mr. fours. You'll take all three of those together. Not much change on the dashboard on the expendure side. There's not a lot of difference in what we're projecting. I think that'll come up a little bit now. The utilities that's been called out, but pretty much that's holding steady in the moment. On the revenue side, we did make adjustments for receipt of the Boseies payment for prior services and also for changes in investment. During the month we earned 42,000 on the treasury bills. We received 132,000 for bothies on the refund prior expenditures and also 84,000 in modern day. Okay, great. Any questions on those reports? No. Okay. Into our treasures report. Do I have a motion? >> Thank you. And a second. >> Second. >> Thank you,
004Mr. Forbes. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Uh, also under financial, we have to approve the bids for the capital improvement project 2024 phase one. Um, have a motion to bring that to the table. >> So move. >> Thank you. It's on a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh, Dr. Zilox, Mr. Forbes turn. Um, so basically approving the bid for phase one in comparison to what was uh put out on a schedule for Buffalo Construction as an estimate was really really close on the base bids about $29,000 different. We did add the two alternates that we talked about the skylight replacement for the wheel lock school doesn't make much sense to do the roof and not replace the skylights and also the roof on the maintenance building which if we don't do that
005we're going to have issues with it and there's really no point in time to do that in the future, especially given that the equipment will be on site due to the roof. That did put us a little bit over the original projection, but there are contingencies built into each phase of the project between seven and 8% for the first phase and about the same for the second phase. Those contingencies and a couple other things that'll be kind of moving targets with incidental costs make phase one in a good spot and Buffalo construction is and Young and Red are completely comfortable that we'll be okay going into phase two because of the contingencies are in phase two barring some really big unforeseen circumstance. So seems like we're tracking about where everybody thought initially and subsequently with
006the approval of these bids. Also in terms of the bids uh as far as who is awarded them there is a vetting process once the bids are awarded and the vetting process includes eight pages of different things that you write up construction goes over things like instructions to biders on submitting the contracts going over things like prevailing wage have they reviewed the documents summary of the work timing of payment received and all those kinds of things. So if a company were to bid low as an example and be able to match some of these questions and that put you in a spot where you might have a nonresponsive bidder and look at the second next second next bid. But in this case, all the low bids were vetted as responsible. >> Okay, great. Any questions
007on the bids? >> So, just to clarify, if if you had multiple biders and all were responsive or responsible biders, would you go with the lowest? by a New York state requirement, you do go with the lowest unless you deem them to be not responsible. >> Got it. >> And not responsible be, you know, they can't meet the timeline. They have two employees and you need 100 to do the work, you know, those kinds of things. >> Most of the time the companies that are bidding are reputable companies that both construction and young right have had multiple levels of experience with. There's really a formality to go through the process. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Other questions? >> I just wanted to share that human right continue to be a a great partner. Buffalo Construction uh
008continues to be a great partner. We appreciate um what they offer in these um processes. They um definitely um have a clear um process and the steps that they look to um complete in something like this and really have provided some great guidance for us. Also, thanks to Mr. Forbes for his involvement. um a lot of meetings, a lot of oversight, a lot of conversations leading up to the bid um in the vetting process and now um eventually giving thanks to the board of education. So they've been great um and as delivered when we brought them right on board and as we brought construction on board. Okay. Um so the summation of all these bids you're saying is at or below the estimate the estimated uh >> there because of the differences with the skylights
009and the roof on the maintenance building were above on the original estimate for the the base work but because that base work estimate included continuences we now can move those funds over different >> what's the estimated start date for this town still waiting on scheduling and final approval. So, >> right. Not really. >> Probably a couple months after. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Force. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Um, so now we move on to personnel and we have another resignation this week. this uh this meeting uh following the three we had the last meeting and then this one uh we need to approve with regret with very much regret uh the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Kevin Wade Middle School teacher effective July 1st 2026 with sincere thanks
010and appreciation for 30 years of service to the district. Could I have a motion to bring this to the table? So >> thank you and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you Dr. Zilios. Yeah, certainly. Uh, thanks to Mr. Way for being here tonight and thanks for everything you've done for the district. It's been a pleasure to work with you over the last five years. Um, always bittersweet. Congratulations while at the same time you will very much uh be missed um across the district. Um, from my perspective, Kevin is positive, upbeat, friendly, and welcoming and an all-around great guy. Um, not only has he provided outstanding music instruction, but he also gets involved in a lot of other things. um as well. Um probably none more importantly or notable than um the work he's done
011with our auditorium. Um video, lightning, sound um has helped with all kinds of productions um in that setting. Also has been willing to participate in a few performances here and there um quite often and we appreciate that. Also has been involved with middle school announcements, middle school social media. So, um, really has been an active and important, um, part of what goes on in the district, but also particularly at the middle school. Miss Paul Hamus, anything you'd like to add? >> Yes. Um, just a tremendous asset both to our building and to the to the district in general. Um, every single student in the middle school receives general uh, music instruction, grades 5 through eight, every single year and largely by Mr. Wei. So he has seen a lot of kids um on a yearly
012basis and well as well as supporting um our chorus at the end of every single day. And then outside of the classroom as Dr. Zelox mentioned I mean his work in the auditorium. He is willing to help out and jump in in absolutely any way fathomable. Um he is the co-instructional leader for the music department. So a strong leader within our building. He is integral in musicals for middle school and high school. He's pretty much an accompany us at every concert ever happening in our district. Um, and the clubs, you know, tech clubs, social, he does their social media announcements, clubs, even ski club. So, he just has such a a contribution to our building and to the district in so many different capacities and will be very, very greatly missed. Super large shoes to
013fill. >> Great. >> Mr. Ray, would you like to say anything? >> Um, I just real quickly I just want to say thank you for my 30 years, sir. Um, pardon me when to come to make sure this was really happening because 30 seems still seems like an odd concept to me. Um, and year one seemed just like yesterday. And I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and someone's going to call and say the math was wrong. Year 24, but it hasn't come yet so far. I was like, is this really going to happen? But, um, no, thank you very much and I appreciate this is a great district. I am proud to have spent my time here and seen it grow um in so many ways um physically um not just music department
014but all the departments and everything that the school offers um it's why my kids come here and we're happy to bring them here. So thank you very much. Thank you. I suppose you're going to have a very active retirement and I'm always envious with the music department retirees because you have a readym made >> plan already you know music and you know so congratulations on actually we better say do a vote here all in favor with regret >> we must >> all in favor with regret I >> I opposed uh yeah congratulations and have a very happy and fulfilled retirement Mr. Wright thank YOU >> THANK YOU AND NOW I'M GOING TO SNEAK OUT TO our >> Thank you. >> I'll be right behind you. So, um, uh, next we have our second, uh, hearing
015from the public. Uh, is there anybody that would like to speak in the second? No, I think so. So, we'll move on to the superintendence report. Dr. Zillian. >> Uh, yeah. In addition to, uh, Mr. away. We just want to touch on a couple other items that were under personnel and consent. Um, congrats to Megan Ferguson who's one of our teacher agents. She completed uh her probationary port appointment as of January 13. So, she is now permanent. Um, congrats to her. We appreciate all her hard work and dedication um and her support um for the high school in general. Um also um again bittersweet always when people are moving on to another position Britney Peterson who was our codto working in our occupational therapy department um best of luck to her as she moves on.
016Again thank you to Britney um she's been a huge asset to the district very helpful and has worked with a number of students um and has been able to be um helpful to not only students but also families as well. So, um just a update on those two things. Um we also wanted to talk a little bit tonight about um the New York State portrait of graduate. Um as you probably know, you know, over time, our world around us continues to get more complex and rapidly changing and the definition of student success um evolves um over the time in our career field. And in July of 2025, the New York State Board of Regents formally adopted the New York State Portrait of a Graduate as a cornerstone of the New York State Inspires Initiative. This
017initiative is designed to shift our focus from solely standardized testing to a more comprehensive definition of student achievement. The portrait outlines six essential and interconnected attributes that all students should develop to thrive whether it is in career college or in general civic life. Tonight we wanted to bring everyone back to some of those uh foundational concepts and provide a general overview. I wanted to very much thank Dr. Wright for her work in this area and being willing to share some information here tonight. Dr. Wright, >> thank you. Um, so if you're to go on the state website, you would see um they have these kind of two-page documents that talk about what does a portrait of a graduate mean to a school board member, to an administrator, to educators, which we've looked at together um
018in curriculum council along with the one for students and parents. So the whole idea is that, you know, we're all in this together. So there, this is what you would see if you go on the state website. Um, so it shows you, you know, some information but not a lot. And the other part is that all of this you'll see referred to over and over and over is grounded in the culturally responsive and sustaining education framework. So I just gave you the first few pages of this as well. Um, which really kind of just is it think of it like the abstract if you will. So that helps to be able to connect the dots as to how these two things relate. And this is some work that we did in curriculum council with all
019of our administrators here, helping to um participate and facilitate in different groups. We did an activity called a compass points activity, which is just something as simple as exploring each one of these documents, looking to see what excites us, what worries us, what needs do we see that we think we need to more information, and then suggestions and thoughts as we move forward. Just the first steps in in exploring this. And um I think what really kind of took some people by surprise when we did that at curriculum council was when Mr. Chenelli shared with his group that our current third grade students will be the first ones as freshmen with these pathways. They'll be the first to graduate with them. So our kiddos who are in third grade will be seniors and our kiddos
020in kindergarten will be freshmen and that in the first you know all four years graduating. So they're in our schools now. And that was something I think that was a bit of a like wait what? This seems so far away. it seems so you know different um but different steps have happened along the way so if you think of it as like an understanding by design or even our seven habits begin with the end in mind this is the end this portrait of a graduate this graduation is the end so where did it begin and that's what I thought I would touch on a little bit as Dr. Dr. Zilak said um New York State has really these are all in your packets identified those six attributes and the the goal was um creating priority
021areas. So if you go on the state website and really start to dig into the New York inspires subtabs, you'll find all of this information there. So it's like where did these portrait where did the portrait even come from? So New York State identified priority areas and they distilled them to six attributes things that we want all of our students to graduate with in all schools in New York State. So they said well how do we get there? So they employ the theory of change and this is where that inspires idea framework comes from taking a holistic approach. Step one is to adopt that portrait, redefine the credit credits, those regions credits, graduation credits, expand learning opportunities, um sunset certain diploma requirements. Notice it's some diploma requirements. Um and then move to one single report
022card statewide. So one thing we notice is many of our students you know families move they relocate and when they relocate within the state this will become a much easier um you know way for all of our students and families to acclimate to school to achieve to stay on track and for different you know all of us have to kind of look at the courses and see well what was equivalent to what and did they take this test and was this in this order and it becomes really challenging for students. So it goes to the if then as shown by and then from there we know that they'll have these dispositions right these six attributes and we will know they have that because they will be shown by proficiency and learning standards. So that's one
023thing the New York State next generation learning standards are not changing. How we show that we're achieving them is changing in some ways but they're not going away. It isn't that the learning standards are being abolished and new ones are being created. These are new ways to show achievement and mastery in the existing New York State learning standards. Um the goal is also to engage in interdisciplinary projectbased realworld learning to have multiple means of showing that and to be able to make sure that they will these attributes will express themselves regardless of where students go postsecary be it the workforce military technical school or beyond. So all of that distills into this one-page document right here that defines the portrait of the graduate. It shows those attributes and this wheel is what is found on
024the state website. It's that same wheel on the back of each of the the papers. And so the goal is to show that they're academically prepared. They're creative, innovative, critical thinkers, effective communicators, all of those things. So this is that you know what it came up with. And so the inspires is really how is this going to be achieved? We're still in phase one. Phase one is the installation phase from fall 2025, so this past September as Dr. Ziliac said through summer 2027. So not even the end of this school year, next school year. So I know for myself sometimes I get very frustrated with like we need more information and then I have to remind myself we're still in phase one. New York State has said we're we are still in phase one. So
025it isn't that we have to have this ready for tomorrow because again it's our third graders. It's our third graders but it's our third graders. Some of the changes that come with phase one, the phase we're in right now will be seen because we are required to have instruction in um climate education and financial literacy. So, there are some new nuances that are coming for the high school, for the middle school, and the elementary school in this phase, this first two-year installation phase. Um the next phase two is 2027 through summer 2029 and that's when we move toward the one diploma. The learning expectations all of the things we're hearing about the portrait of a graduate will be more of that will be defined and flushed out in the 27 to 29. And finally we
026have that 2029 fall 2029 and up. That's the new system of students who will be starting grade nine, our current third graders. um the new statewide transcripts and new supports that will help them to achieve. So, one thing that has kind of buzzed around really quickly is that, oh my gosh, New York State, there's no more regions. That is not true. That is not true. This is expanding opportunities. It's expanding the way students can learn. So, we're looking at these. We're doing um work with certainly our administrative team um our curriculum council and the other thing that people um New York State worked hard to define this is this is not a high school initiative. This is not a 912 initiative. In fact, January 14th, there was a statewide website for schools. And again, the
027way that um Commissioner Rosa is rolling things out is that Boseies around the state are required on a certain date to hold these where NISED has these um New York State Education Department does these live webinars. So, you have to go to Boseies and together with component districts, you're learning this along as they're rolling it out live. And the one on January 14th was prek5 inquirybased learning attached to portrait of a graduate. And it was the idea of begin with the end in mind. These six attributes are students ready to walk out our doors and express those six attributes successfully. How does that begin? It begins in prek. So this is an everybody initiative. It's not a high school initiative. Um, and so that helps us to examine, okay, you know, going from play-based learning,
028all the hands-on, which is expressing and experimenting, looking at all our special areas as we go up through the grades, where are we doing these things or how can we redefine them? Where can we expand opportunities? So, it's not a throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's really just looking at it, expanding, and doing it in a thoughtful way that New York State is mapping out. And we're still in phase one, which does go until end of the school year 2027. So we will get more definition in as this year continues, as next year continues to help us make more of those concrete steps going forward. But we're not waiting. Like I said, we're exploring. And one of the first things we're really making sure we're doing some learning in is understanding this culturally
029responsive sustaining framework. If everything about the portrait of a graduate has this as their foundation, then we need to see what this means. we need to make sure we understand it first. So that's a quick overview of it and it shows you kind of you know connecting the dots I hope a little bit more and um definitely regents are not going out the window. Um state standards are not going out the window. This is a new way of achieving it and it is an entire PK12 initiative. I can possibly answer questions. I don't know. >> Any questions at all? Well, when you say regents are not going out the window, will there still be regents exams? Our >> Yes. Our understanding right now is yes, students will have pathways, meaning they will have a ways
030to get to graduation and some may include regent exam. Some courses may always have a regent attached to it, but a student's way of expressing or achieving may not necessarily be um let's say that the the regent exam in biology, but they may also have some kind of a pathway extension that if they struggle with the exam, they may be able to show that an additional way. Those things aren't defined by state ed yet. These are what we're thinking. One thing that we're looking at to see what those definitions could be are the new seals. So there's the seal of civic readiness, the seal of biiteracy, um, and and there's a few others that go in there. When you dig into the literature into New York inspires, part of phase two is transitioning those seals
031into pathways. So that's why it's so important for us to be exploring those seals and you know looking at how can we start making those pathways now if th if the seals look to be the blueprint for those alternative pathways. Um so you know that's one the one really good thing is it's a statewide initiative and our you know Erie County Boseies I want to give a shout out to Dr. Oor and his team because they're really doing a lot to dig into this. um they're providing a lot of you know support and when um we have the monthly regional curriculum councils they're really digging into this they're having presenters from the state um they're having workshops they're offering so I I kudos to them for the support that they're providing in the region >>
032great >> yeah I always thought that you know this looks like a much better way to assess if students are college and career ready um as opposed to just regent exams. But to me, the challenge, and maybe I'm wrong, is how are you going to assess this? Like, how do you assess each of these? Is New York State helping you with that? Because you're going to need a lot of work on that. >> I think that's the question all of us have and wish we could have the hard answer to right now because as a teacher at heart, I'm just like, just show me what you want. Just like, show me what it is you're asking for. and we don't have that yet and I think that that's a very difficult thing um for us
033to be able to h help our teachers to explore this more as well. So as bits and pieces are rolled out as we look to those seals that's one thing. The other is that when you dig into the inspires part of the state website, you see they they have many papers that they've published, but they looked at many other states in their model and they kind of gleaned the best parts of all those. Virginia is a big one, Vermont, Colorado, many, many other states have already done this whole work and done this. So, if you look at some of those models, that's a very helpful way to look to see, well, what could this look like for us? Um, there's also a Oh, I'm going to get the name wrong, but it's um it's a
034New York State basically uh this group that years ago in the late 90s asked to do create outcomes that were projectbased rather than regents. and if they could prove the rigor was as rigorous or more, then their students wouldn't have to take the region's exams. Those are really models for us to look at. And the one I'm most familiar with is in Rochester, New York. It's school without walls. I don't know, Dr. Zilax, if you're familiar with that, you know, also. So, that's another model for us to look at are um there's several of the schools are in New York City, but there is school without walls in Rochester and I'm not sure the name of the school that's in Ithaca. and they've gotten these five years approval, five-year approvals, and they're still continuing today.
035And now you'll see documents in here where they refer you to look at those schools as models. They're not charter schools. They're I don't know how to explain it correctly, but they're basically a public school. They still have public school funding and public school. They have to do the rigor of a public school and all the requirements, but they've shown that these method outcome methods are as or more rigorous. So, it's sort of a school of choice type thing. It's like a long side aligned to um a public school, >> right? >> I can give you the name of >> and just I had an opportunity um to sit in on a portfolio presentation by a graduating student at Lafayette High School in the spring and it was similar I would say probably to what
036we would be looking at and it was amazing. Yeah, it was a blind student who had done her presentation in Braille and also on PowerPoint and it was it blew me away. So I think it's exciting. >> Yeah. So certainly shows promise. Yeah. Got to get the assessment pieces out and we'll be rolling. Any other questions? >> You mentioned more immediately the financial literacy and the and the climate change education. Um, obviously those are interdisciplinary topics. Do we know in Fernonia where those are going to fit in or where the state wants them to fit in? >> Well, we're great question. We're definitely looking at those and that's been a lot of conversations. What do we have currently in earth science? What do we currently have? You know, mainly earth sciences where you think it
037would fit perfectly. we're going to look to see um and it it may have other parts to it in um say like physics but then in our middle school we're looking at those middle school education you know not just 78 but 56. So we also have to make sure this is being presented in our science units in the elementary school. So that's when we'll engage in something that um we call an education a crosswalk where we simply look at what are the requirements what do we do now where do they fit where are the gaps that we may need to fill in or where are we already like oh look at that it's here you know it's just to your point it's embedded into education climate education is the one that's required first then the
038financial literacy and the financial literacy will be um in high school and middle school and then it will drop down in a couple years to the elementary school so we have to see it there too. So again, you know, they aren't just high school outcomes. And I think that, you know, when they first talked about Blue Ribbon Commission and Portrait of a Graduate, it was like, you know, this is, you know, all high school. And then as they began to show more and more, it's like, no, this is going to come all the way down. So, I'm very excited about things like um, you know, the outdoor play or the outdoor classroom, excuse me, and, you know, um, the theory of play is education. And then we have our STEM, you know, our STEM in
039the um elementary K4. So, we're already doing so many things that we can learn from each other about. We have, you know, the programs, you know, that we've always called those special areas, right? If you're in music, you have to do composition and theory and performance. If you're, you know, in art, you are doing, you know, your artist statement and you're presenting these things. So, these are many of the skills that are in Portrait of a Graduate. So it's wonderful to be able to learn from um the people we were working alongside with and say like okay there's not a regions in art so how are you saying you know from this point to this point in defending that creation how you did it we talk about the scientific method so all the parts are
040there it's kind of unpacking them and seeing how we can all learn from each other so that's a really exciting piece of this >> great thank you Dr. Wright any other questions >> thank you Dr. Just a couple other things. Yeah, a couple other things. Um, again, we're very happy to have Nashwan on board as one of our student reps. Um, Katherine is in the building tonight at a rehearsal. I think she might pop in if possible. Um, the snow days have put them a little bit behind, so they're um kicking into high gear. Um, and um, myself, Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Han have been meeting with Nashwan and Katherine talking about some of the things that they could get involved with um beyond what they've already done which is a definite improvement and um we've
041expanded kind of their role um this year. So thank you for that and thanks to Katherine. Um, one of the things that came up is the board of education submitted some questions that they'd like to know more about. Um, sort of a a survey that um, Neshwana and Katherine will help us get more information and then eventually share um, information back here in public session. So, that's a work in progress right now. More immediately, they're also helping us um, put together u moments where we can celebrate some good news and some things that's happened over the course of the school years. uh they helped initially with um some information regarding the first 10 weeks and they're compiling right now some things um for the second 10 weeks or the second quarter um now that we
042are at the halfway point of the school year. So we look forward to um hearing some good news from both of them and also some responses uh to some of those survey questions. So more information to come on that. I also wanted to mention, you might have noticed in executive session tonight. It refers to the superintendent's evaluation. I just want to remind everybody that I am evaluated each year by the board of education. It's a robust uh process in which um we use an evaluation tool that's pretty common in New York State called Super EVAP. It can also be used for administrators and other um roles in education, but for us, we're focused on the superintendent aspect of it. Um there's a variety of components um that I self-reflect on and um input some information
043that is then reviewed by the board of education. Um tonight is kind of the midyear check-in on that. So, um, it's always nice for me to be able to compile that information, half of it now and then half of it near or closer to the end of the school year, so it's not so much at one time. And um the board of education is always great about helping me um recognize some areas that we're doing well and some strengths. Also some areas um where we need to improve and also thinking about how we might be able to do things differently, how I might be able to do things differently and some goals that we can set or focus areas that we can incorporate into the following school year. So, just wanted to remind everybody um
044of that process and that tonight is um the midyear point um that we take a moment to discuss. Um lastly, mentioning that one of the things we talked about last year is that occasionally um during a meeting someone might come and share some information or make some statements. Sometimes there's some statements in the newspaper that sometimes to be honest in the moment I'm like is is that accurate? Is that correct? Um, or maybe it's a perception or maybe it's a feeling and I wanted to do better as superintendent when that occurred to follow up at least offer some additional information, maybe clarify and at sometimes maybe even disagree with something that might have been stated or might have been shared. So, um, in that spirit, um, very politely here tonight, I just wanted to, um,
045address a comment that was made in the observer opinion piece as part of the observer's view this past week. And it was in, um, a piece related to our district being identified as a district sus susceptible to fiscal stress, which is accurate. Um, in the comments it stated that the district received COVID money, which is true, and then new hirings were taken on with not a lot of thought about consequences. So, again, it is accurate that we received money um through New York State. It is accurate um that we did hire um and added some additional positions with this funding. However, it is not accurate that there was not a lot of thought about the consequences um or not a lot of thought into um making those decisions. So, as part of those new hires,
046we hired a social worker, a speech therapist, a special education teacher, a school counselor, a Hispanic outreach coordinator, and an elementary STEM teacher. Um once these positions were established, they really became invaluable and critical roles within our schools. They definitely helped us get through that initial phase of the pandemic. However, we recognized that the educational issues and challenges created by the pandemic did not end just because the New York State funding ended. Students and families were still in need of support from a social worker, still in need of therapy and speech, still in need of guidance from counselors, still in need of instructional modifications from a special education teacher, still in need of helping to communicate um and communicating from an outreach coordinator and the need of a chance for hands-on learning and to apply
047their knowledge as part of an engaging STEM program. So we decided to continue to provide these experiences and opportunities for our students and for our families. Yes, this has created some challenges for us to continue um in the work that we do in terms of budgeting and thinking how we approach the budget this year and into the future. Um this is challenging for the district. This is challenging for our set of administrators also for the board of education. However, the thought behind those things was really delivering on our district mission. This idea of helping everyone becoming their greatest selves, to deliver on our um district vision about being innovative, dynamic and global in our approach and also to make good on our core beliefs particularly being student centered, being inclusive and striving for excellence. So,
048I just wanted to offer that in response um to the article event again in a very polite um productive way. Um but we want to make sure that we're responding when we see here things that maybe don't quite match um the perceptions from the district. Having said that, that's all I have for tonight unless there's other questions from uh the board. Any other questions from the board on superintendent report? No, I just you know back to the evaluation the midyear uh this is year two of the midyear uh before that all schools have a final evaluation we thought would be pyd have a check mid mid year which is tonight so it's worked well last year and uh yeah I think we'll be continuing that um all right um so the next regular board of
049education meeting will be Tuesday February 10th 2026 6 at 6 p.m. in the high school library. Are there any other comments, Jill, or comments from the board tonight before we move on to administrators or student members or no? I give you a little overview of the survey you guys are working on and also that you'll be sharing some good news at our next meeting. So, >> and I would like to say that Neshwan and Catherine came up with the idea of having the board >> Yes. >> generate questions that they could answer for us anything you want to know about our student body. So, that was a great idea. >> Yes. >> And then just piggybacking on what Dr. was just saying, I just want to say I'm so grateful that we have, for example,
050Hispanic outreach coordinator with our changing demographics in our district. That position is invaluable and other positions he mentioned. Of course, we all know our special education enrollment just keeps increasing and that's important that we're staffed there. We've heard from our faculty and administrators about the need for speech therapists. And um with regard to mental health issues, they're not going away anytime soon. >> So we did plan to revisit when the funding ended. We did revisit and we need the positions. >> Yes. >> So thank you for saying that. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um Mr. Tadelli, >> thanks. Um I would like to mention that uh Fredonia High School was um I guess through email and uh reaching out to our AP administrator Sarah Cordineski. Um we were honored by the AP for um
051the AP school honor role for the 2425 school year. So that's a pretty nice honor from uh the college board. AP school honoral recognizes schools that have done outstanding work to welcome more students into AP courses that they offer and to support them on a path to college success. So, um we we received that email about a week ago um allowing us to take a look at the courses that we offer, the student enrollment that has gone up in a few different areas in uh some of our AP offerings. So, uh we did receive that email last week. I wanted to share that news with the board. uh readance week and midterm week was last week and with our little hiccup of a snow day on the first day uh and then moving some readance
052exams to the Friday of that week and moving around some midterm exams um we did have a pretty successful regions in midterm week. Um I want to thank the instructional leaders for helping set up our testing locations. Uh, and then a special thank you to Rihanna Kelly, the IIL, for our special education department, and uh, Sarah Porteski for the work behind the scenes to make sure that students get to the right places for testing, that their accommodations are met, uh, for the the week and all those things are taken care of. And then, um, we are obviously now starting our second semester already. Uh, that was today, which is kind of crazy to say how fast this year has has sped by. Um, and with that, um, working on, uh, through the snow days when
053there's not a lot of people around, it helps us, uh, my secretary and myself just kind of plan like what May and June look like. And we kind of all know, um, we need to book the last two weeks of May and all of June pretty much every night, um, somewhere and something happening. So, we were able to talk about all the senior activities and get our infographic ready for those things to come out pretty soon. Plan uh, academic awards night, work with Mr. Bernando on sports awards night and just kind of set some time aside to think about when all those things can take place. So pretty soon we'll get our senior activity infographic out. Um our first major activity of the second semester is the winter ball or the snowball if you will
054which is February 28th uh from 6:30 to 9:30 here at the high school. So we'll have that upcoming and a few things on the horizon there. >> Great. Thank you. You know being selected for the AP school honor roll. What a That's fantastic news and hopefully we can get that out to the district residents >> because that's a that's a big honor. >> Yep. Yeah. So, there's like a little badge that you can go on and download. So, we'll get that all set up for social media and we'll put some information about the AP courses that we offer here at the high school. So, we'll put all that together this week. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Tenno. Thank you, Miss Boas. >> Yes. So, I believe I mentioned this at the last board meeting, but
055we are currently still administering the diagnostic, the winter diagnostic for I Ready, and this week is our math diagnostic. So, students have been setting goals where they can set some targets to try to achieve um with their scores and that sort of thing. So, they've been working hard to achieve those goals. And believe it or not, our Quest parent meetings are starting this week. So, Quest is up and running. The Cubs have gone in to present to all of our eighth grade classes. Um and now this tonight is the first of the three parent meeting series. So you'll be hearing more updates from Quest. Um and finally with wrapping up the second quarter, we have over 330 kids that have earned our quarter 2 incentive based on their attendance. So not missing more than three
056days in quarter 2. So they will be receiving a treat at the end of this week. Um so that was pretty exciting. And just in general between quarters one and two, our percentage as a building is up a percent from last year at this time. So from 93% to 94%. So, and I I know I've mentioned this before, but just a huge shout out to our attendance committee um that has worked so hard to try to incentivize um our attendance initiatives and to motivate kids um so that they can feel proud of, you know, the hard work that they're putting in every day. So that is consisting of both of our counselors, Mrs. Gibbazi, Mrs. Martin, Scott Herz at Kaye Eden, um Sarah Art Trip, and Mrs. Marsh, who is really spearheading a lot of
057that work, too. So, we meet frequently throughout the quarter, and they've just done a great job being positive um and trying to incentivize getting the kids to school every day. >> That's great news to hear with the attendance. And who's taken over for the uh cops? I think I missed that. >> It's still Steve and Sue. >> Oh, they're still doing it. >> Oh, yes. >> Oh, I thought they had >> Yeah. No, no, no, they're still going. Yep. Yep. >> That's even better news. >> They're leading leading the forge. >> Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Gology. >> Uh, great. Our leader and me um curriculum continues to roll out and the most recent unit in the fourth graders is community leaders. So, I'd like to thank Dan Aldridge from Coronia Fire. He's been in
058talking to the fourth graders about um what it means to be a leader in the community. We also have some of our representatives from the American Legion coming in. Uh it was supposed to be yesterday, but we just rescheduled it to the following Monday. Um February 6th is going to be our leadership assembly where we're going to look at um the data that we set goals very similar to you do for I Ready. So we're going to celebrate some achievements with data and um recognize some leaders and also have a little bit of a celebration for the kids. And then our PAX behavior incentives have been continuing to roll out. Um we've we've now trained all teachers, we've trained all bus drivers, and uh February 13th, we're going to train all of our aids. So,
059we're going to be pretty uh uniform across the board with what it looks like to manage behavior effectively in the building. And um we do have people um we do have partners coming in um four times a month gathering data and at the end of the school year, they're going to present to us the impact of PAX um and its uh outcomes on behavior. So, I'll be curious to see what that report looks like and share it with you guys. >> We'd love to see that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And the data. So, data, we love the data. So, thank you. Thank you for that, Miss Frell. >> Um, thanks. Yeah. Just two quick things. Um, I'm happy to have brought on a new clerk, too, this week, last week. Um, she's only been here
060a couple of days, but I'm just really thrilled with um how well things are going. So, that's some good news. Um, and just uh wanted to acknowledge um that I am sad to bid farewell to Brit Britney Peterson. Um, it's hard to believe she's been here for 15 years. I remember when we hired her. Um, she was just brand new, fresh out of college, very quiet, very shy, and she leaves us um with a whole lot of reliability. She's confident. She is one of the I most reliable people that um I work with and I count on her a lot. and I'm sad that she's going, but I wish her a lot of luck in her new position at Cadilla. So, that's close to home for her and her home district and where her child
061will go to school. So, it's a nice fit for her. >> Great. Well, thank you. Thank you for that, Miss Piper. >> I have to second that. It's almost like we watched Britney grow up. Yeah. She came into herself and um she's in the classrooms and helping out. She comes down to we lock a couple days a week and goes above and beyond just seeing her students. she goes into work with all of the kids on what they need developmentally. So just grade will miss her a lot. Um we also are in the midst of our diagnostic screening for early literacy and early numeracy at weak for our kindergarten students as well as our behavior and emotional screening that our teachers do for our students. So taking a look at that and running our SAT
062meetings and whatnot. So that's we're also in the process as well. But you know we lack we also are playing a lot. So we are celebrating our global school day of play. We do this every year across the whole world. Everybody um hopefully schools all the way up through high school. Ron do a global school day of play where we just play unstructured play within the entire day. We've gotten sleds ready from we browse some from Boseies and so we're hoping to be out in the football field do some sledding but come on over. We'll be playing all day um on the 4th. We do every day but that will be all day long. So we're great. >> Yeah. Unsched play. work worked for us when we were young, too. So, >> it's great that
063you're doing that. >> Dr. Wright, anything else? >> Um, no. I think unless you want to go through portrait of gradu Okay. All right. Well, um, let's see. So, uh, we need to anticipate the need to enter into executive session to discuss personnel and the superintendent evaluation. So, we'll close out tonight's meeting. Um, general session, I should say. Uh, should I have a motion? So, >> moved. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Double. Thank you. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. Thank you for attending. Uh, have a good night everybody and soon because we're Sunday.