001enough. Welcome to the Fredonia Central School Board of Education meeting for Tuesday, January 13, 2026. Uh we begin each meeting with the pledge to the flag. So please join. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Thank you all for attending tonight. Um we need to first approve uh the agenda for the regular meeting of January 13, 2026 26 with uh consent uh including personnel but excluding uh a uh 2 through 4 and all consent in business. Uh can I have a motion to bring that to the table? So moved. Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh anything to be pulled tonight? >> Consent. No. >>
002All in favor? I >> opposed. Uh next we move right into our first uh public session, public comment. Uh the board has reserved time to hear comments from the audience. Those wishing to uh address uh the board are asked to stand with your name and address and please limit your comments to 5 minutes or less. Concerns in the first session should be directly related to items listed on the proposed agenda for this meeting. Uh is there anybody that would like to speak in the speak in the first uh session? >> Great. Okay, we'll move right on. We have a two minutes to approve. Uh we first need to approve the minutes from the regular meeting of December 9th, uh 2025. Can I have a motion? >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thanks. Uh
003any questions on these minutes? >> All in favor? I >> opposed. >> And the second approval of minutes is for the facilities meeting of December 9th, 2025. Uh I have a motion to bring that to the table. >> Second. >> Thank you. A first and a motion and a second. Any questions on the facilities meeting from December 9th? All in favor? >> I opposed. And that moves us right into our uh special presentation uh for our high school tech crew. Uh Mr. Andy Welock is here tonight and our instructional technology specialist with his uh students to uh speak about the tech crew. Mr. Welock, welcome. >> Thank you everybody. So the IT student help desk started with an internship program my first year where we just had one student come in and uh you know
004and help out around the tech department the IT department and we found that was really successful and it was a win-win situation really for both uh for two reasons. First of all, it helped us in the tech department kind of understand where the students were and the teachers were and give them some uh and give us kind of some insight as to how the students were interacting with technology. But then it also uh gave the students uh some IT skills. We let them work on Chromebooks. We let them help teachers and students and we found that was really successful and beneficial in both ways. So year two we decided to make it a student help desk. We decided, and if you could advance the slide for me, we wanted to do some kind of research
005on what a good IT help desk looks like for students. So, we went to Lockport High School and saw their program, which was really awesome and well-developed. We went to I'm going to bounce down one. I saw a presentation at at from StarPoint at a nicegate conference of a student help desk, and theirs was really interesting. Then we talked to Silver Creek who also has a student help desk. And then finally we went out to East Aurora and talked to them about their student help desk. And again, each help desk has its own unique flavor and it's kind of fun to see how each district approaches it. So we what we did like from East Aurora is they combined with or they talk to the Dell computer uh company who has a student help desk
006program and they um provide training and they provide a a certification for students so that they can work on some of the uh the devices that we have provided there Dell of course. So, that's the genesis of the program and we've kind of put our own spin to it and I'm going to have the kids talk about it. And you'll see on the board there that the top left logo was our original logo created by our student uh McKenzie Fabiano and she did an amazing job and we that that's our proud logo. And then this year we have some for our t-shirts. We created this help desk logo that these students created. So, I'm going to turn the presentation over to them. >> Could you advance the slides? Okay. I'm going to introduce like about
007us. Uh today, oh, sorry, not today. Um, this year is our second year for like the program um since it was like started in 2024. Uh we make sure that everyone at uh Fredonia has the necessary technology and um devices for their work and like we accept students into our help desk any time of the year um with like any type of experience like even if they have none at all um with technology and we will work hard to keep our school technology uh running smoothly and friendly. Um, this is the 2025 to 2026 team. Uh Samantha and Maryland, um Sophia Starks, uh Alexis Hennessy, uh James Wheelock, Landon Shepard, Daniel Flanders, Kaylee Lawler, uh Jethan, how do you record? Um, and as you can see there, we accept um PE like students from all
008grades and but to this year we only have 9th and 10th graders. We deliver services to the elementary and help teachers with computer and monitor issues or setting up new records. the setup of iPads for the first graders preparing preparing and sorry and we use in the middle school for newly repaired Chromebooks and in the high school we deliver different necessary um wires and things to teachers. As student tech members, we have learned to fix Chromebook such as replacing Chromebook screens and other small parts and gears. We are looking forward to learning more from the Dell programs so we can fix more in depth and important parts. Okay. Um what we have done so far. So for the rules of our team are elevate one another, do not gossip and have uh judgmental thoughts. Um
009honor each other's space and ensure and share warmth. Plans for the future. Make a podcast series. Make more how-to videos. um continue fully updating our website and start doing on the on the street interviews from students to take their advice and make it help desk a better place. >> Could you click on the uh you go one notch back and click on the how-to videos? >> Sure. So, this is our website and this is some of the I the how-to videos we've created. I don't know if you want to just click one just for an example. Hello, my name is James Willock and I'll show you how to get rid of those annoying Google Classroom emails. Now, all you got to do is go down into settings and just below your profile, you'll see notifications.
010Now, you can edit what email notifications you get. Who knew that getting rid of those annoying emails was so simple? Anyway, that's all, folks. >> Our supervisor, Mr. Relock, has been in contact with Dell Technologies about their stu student certification pro program. This certification would allow the students to work closer with Chromebooks and learn more about our daily technologies. Um, so next up we have our video right toe made of um actors Aki and Welock James Welock and it was edited by me. Hey dude. >> Hot teeth. Looks like you need a trouble bag. Guys, where'd you get those bags? Well, I need one of those. >> Right on. >> So, you just stopped in the IT office. >> Right on. >> Cuz you're stepping on my right toe. So, thanks everybody. This is a
011great crew. They work really hard and they um have a lot of fun and you can see they're a really creative bunch and uh we're really grateful for their time and effort. So, thank you. >> Yeah, I just wanted to share that we really appreciate Mr. Wheelock and and our students taking on a couple things that we've been talking about at the district. One is um seeking opportunities to become our greatest selves, seeking opportunities to be innovative, dynamic, and global in what we're doing. Um and also really thinking about um one of our core beliefs of being student centered. Um and also connecting to um at least two um covy habits that I can think of right off the top of my head. one is a win-win uh benefiting the students but also the greater
012good of the district and also thinking about sharpening the saw and gaining knowledge, gaining information and expanding their knowledge base um through being part of this group. So, thank you for all that. Um really great. Also want to say thank Dr. Wright who technically oversees the um tech department. Anything you want to share? >> Um thank you. First of all, thank you all so so much. were so excited when we had the opportunity to attend the first WA ed um conference. Lockport District was presenting and they very generously invited us up there and we got to see their student health desk and and they were 10 years into it, but they walked us back to their starting point like how did this get going and where could this go? And um when Mr. Welock came
013on board, we knew it was the right person. um we talked about it even at the interview level and what this could be and um so to see this and to see this wonderful group of students um you know and how far we've come just been really really really exciting to see this um come to fruition. So thank all of you for your service for choosing to volunteer to do this and you know giving up your time during the day to really troubleshoot and help a lot of people. So thank you. >> Yes. Yeah. Thank you Mr. Welock students such a young group. They are >> freshman, sophomores. That's awesome. Come right through for us. Uh that's going to be great. Um yeah, win-win certainly. And um please understand student presentations are always the highlight
014of our night. So we really appreciate you coming in. Thank you very much. >> And a close second for highlight is our financial report. So uh we have budget investment and revenue. Mr. Schwarz, >> thank you. So uh for November this November report, we received 84,000 in expected BLT lottery aid. We also booked in the November TRS teacher retirement system payment of 544,000 and picked up an additional 34,000 in interest from our treasury bill. On the budget status report, really not too many changes. November was actually kind of right on track. Not a lot of surprises, not a lot of differences. So, not much different there than what you've seen before. Our T bills continue to help support the revenue side of our budget. Um, we picked up the 34,000 I mentioned and with the
015investments that we've done through November and projecting out to the maturity dates, we're about 50,000 over budget on the revenue side for that. So, that's always positive. >> Great. Any comments, questions on that at all? >> Okay. Uh, moving on to our treasures report. Do I have a motion to bring that to the table? >> So move. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Uh, Mr. Forbes. >> No. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. And certainly it's the most important thing of the night because you know the finances are very important. Thank you for what you do. Um, next we have to establish a district mileage reimbursement rate of 72 miles 72 uh cents per mile. Uh, effective January 1st, 2026. Have a motion. >> A second. Did I hear a second?
016Second. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh, Dr. resilience. >> Um annual uh resolution here uh that takes place every year um after the first of the new calendar year. Uh Mr. Forbes, I don't know if there's anything to highlight beyond that. >> That's the uh typical adjustment. My contract, all of our contracts are 1% less than an IRS rate because that prevents individuals who get hit the miles rate from being taxed on it. And honestly, I'm quite surprised that it went up given that the the fuel prices in general held steady. Usually that's the fluctuation >> in the rate but it is what it is and 1724 is what we need to be. >> Okay. Any questions on that? >> All in favor? Opposed? Uh and finally under uh business finances to approve the
0172425 single audit report and corrective action plan as presented. I have a motion to bring that to the table. >> So move. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you Dr. Zilios and Mr. Forbes. um explanation. You kick that over to Mr. Forbes. >> So, you had all previously approved the independent audit report and we haven't seen this happen for a while, but in the past the state would come back and say even though in the audit report that you approve the corrective action plans are there, who's going to do them and the dates expected are there, we want you to separate this out and do it as a separate motion. So, that's what you're seeing before you today. It's a single audit report and corrective action plan which is part of the
018independent audit report. >> Okay. So this is something that was recommended or >> the state request >> request a request. Okay. Any questions on that? >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Okay. We that moves us right into uh personnel. Uh and tonight we have uh three resignations. This is the month where the resignations start to come in. Uh the first is to approve with regret the resignation for the purpose of retirement. Uh Karen Scott Bona, middle school teacher effective July 1st, 2026 with sincere thanks and appreciation for 25 years of service to the district. Uh could I have a motion, please? >> Thank you. A second. Second. Thanks, Dr. Zil. Yeah. And I'll give some other people a chance to share. um always um bittersweet time of year when retirements start coming in. Um
019certainly we want to thank and recognize everybody for their contributions uh to the district over many years. Um you know it's a it's a loss for a district while still um being excited by by the opportunity of having new people come into the district and you know um create a new and sort of updated energy. Um, at the same time, um, you know, for example, here, um, Karen Scott, Karen Scott Bona, um, longtime middle school math teacher, does a great job in seventh grade, previously has coached in the district, um, really just, uh, a professional through and through and, um, has done a great job for us. um and especially thinking about students going on into eighth grade, ninth grade, some pretty heavy math content, starting to think about regent exams. Um her really being
020a cornerstone um of our math department at the middle school will absolutely be missed and want to thank her for everything that she's done. Miss Paul, anything you'd like to add? >> Yes, definitely. I mean, there's just not enough words to express how much she contributes to our building. Um and that extends beyond just her tremendous work with our students. Um she is such a strong leader and has served as the team seven leader for years as well as the math department chair. Um she just brings such a positive energy and from my position she's a go-to for brainstorming and problem solving. Um always with a student centered focus and even within the middle school although middle school years are unique in and of themselves there's a bridge between sixth and seventh grade and it's
021a very unique dynamic as they leave the elementary model and move into the upper middle school grades. Um, but she bridges that gap beautifully and has just such a soft way of navigating that with kids and supporting them along that along that growth path. Um, I've been grateful that members of my own family have had the opportunity to have her, but she will just be so tremendously missed on so many different levels again, both with our students and with our staff and just in our building in general. And selfishly, of course, I'll miss Arie. So, I'm hoping that Arie can still come back um our her therapy dog, Golden Retriever. So uh yes again we thank you so much her say thank her for her service and just once again we'll miss her tremendously. Great.
022Great. Um, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. And you know, Miss Gabon, she'll be missed. She's valued. She's touched many lives. >> Yes, that's for sure. >> Um, next we need to approve with regret the resignation for the purpose of retirement. Gregory Hos, technology teacher, effective July 1st, 2026 with sincere thanks and appreciation for 27 years of service to the district. kind of have a motion to bring that to the table. So moved. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thanks, Dr. Zelios. Yeah. And again, uh another bittersweet moment here. Um Mr. OS has really been part of this transition from more traditional courses like uh carpentry, woodworking as technology has developed into um CAD courses, uh computer design, uh design and draw courses, kind of those pre-engineering courses. And even most recently,
023even as he was approaching the end of his career, um really was excited about bringing our drone um course on board. um went got some training, got that up and running um which is always um fun to see whether they end up in the cafeteria or one of our gymnasiums um doing some things um to test their skills and eventually hopefully become um a drone pilot at the end of the course. So um Mr. Mr. Hos has also continued to coach for us and just be a positive contributor across the board and certainly also adds an element of humor and fun um on some of our days when we um are involved in spirit week or costumes or dressing up or whatever it might be. So um allaround good guy. Um anything to add Mr.
024Tel? >> Sure. Yeah. um you know, whatever you've called the classes over the years, shop, techad, CTE, um he's he's kind of taught them all here. Um which is going to be really hard to to replace in any way, shape, or form, and we've got some big shoes to fill at at our school. So, um obviously, as the world has become more technologically advanced, Mr. Haz has had to um transform his his teaching over the years too and really kind of honed in on the um technological side of things these last few years. Computer AED drafting within the world of technology classes, his engineering, pre-engineering classes that he's taught. Um you know, the elective teachers really are sort of like the pipe pipers of the building. You see the same groups of kids following them
025around from whatever course to whatever course to whatever course because not only do they love the subject, but they love the person, too. and and everybody really really loves Mr. Hos here. Um and and Dr. Zilak was right. He's about the greatest guy you could ever meet. Um just friendly, warm. He sits on our pride committee here at the high school as well, which really is focused on rewarding students for for being their best selves. Um so we're going to miss all aspects of everything that he does here, plus the coaching aspect. Uh he coached bowling for many many years here as well. Um so we're we're going to miss all of that. So, um, congratulations to him and, uh, hope he gets on the golf course more. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Opposed?
026A great great teacher. You know, again, technology evolves every year. You have to stay with it. And it sounds like he he didn't stay static. He doing drones right through the end. So, we wish him well in his retirement. Uh, finally, we need to approve with regret the resignation for the purpose of retirement Susan Webb Wells, elementary school teacher effective July 1st, 2026 with sincere thanks and appreciation for 30 years of service to the district. Um, can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Zoro. Yeah, Susan's a great example of uh again being a cornerstone of uh area in the building or the elementary um teachers. Um very professional, very polite, very respectful in her demeanor in general. Um she is also one of
027those teachers who can hold stu students accountable uh and still be loving. Um she can make sure students are behaving correctly while still having a positive energy about her and her class. Um she really walks that line um between the push and pull that that every teacher um has as part of who they are as a teacher um being able to get results while doing so in a a positive, friendly, and upbeat way. Um Mr. Jollinger wanted to express uh his thanks for everything that she's done for the district, the building, and for him personally as he transitioned into the principal role. could not be here tonight due to an appointment with his son. Um, but he wanted to relay uh his thanks and and uh be um on record here as being part of
028the conversation tonight. I don't know if anybody else want to share anything regarding Miss Walls can say that she really um reading is such a passion with her and finding ways for the students to create their own um you know writing pieces. She's done work where they create their own books and publish them. Um, you know, and they they illustrate them, they write them, and she'll sometimes send students up to district office to share those with us, and we get to do like author readings, invited inviting us to the classroom and things. Right now, she is heading um she's help leading rather um the the fourth grade is taking on the Winter Olympics and they're creating a whole winter Olympics thing and she's excited to build her bobsled run again and uh do that. So,
029she really loves to have the students involved in um so many different ways, but always with the lens of what we learned from this, what was the process, let's reflect and think with this. And it's really um it's really fantastic. She's um she's a wonderful person to work alongside and I wish her the best. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. You know there's no other profession that touches so many lives and uh you know these individuals are great examples why teaching is such a great profession and we wish them all the best in the next chapter. Uh well moving on uh into new business restnel business all in consent. So that leads us to our second um hearing from the public. Is there anybody like to speak in the second hearing? If not, we'll
030move right into uh the superintendence report. Dr. Zil. >> Yeah. A couple things we want to uh highlight. Um you know, looking at the agenda and things in consent, um we wanted to wish uh Isaac Rodriguez well, one of our cleaners who was moving on to another position. Um a graduate and uh somebody who's just been a uh positive contributor um to our school community. So, thank you to Isaac. We also want to recognize an C who will be joining uh Mrs. Pharaoh in the special ed um office as um uh clerk 2 secretarial position. We're excited to have her coming on board. Um so, that's great news. We also have an addition of a food service helper, uh Cheryl Torall. Um so, welcome to Cheryl as well. We're happy to have everybody. um coming
031on board and being part of what we're doing here and wish others well in the next phase of what um they have going on. Also want to talk a little bit about um attendance. As you know for the last couple years there's been some focus on attendance is in a larger district way. Um you've heard here some of the initiatives at the middle school. Um I think um at Welock we've been focusing on attendance and this again is a is a bigger broader look um at our attendance thinking about what it looked like last year and kind of breaking that down by each month and seeing you know are we improving are we not? Now the good news is most schools tend to use a 90% attendance rate as sort of the measure of that's
032pretty positive attendance. Um and in the data here you can see that all of our numbers are at least with a couple exceptions 90 um or above. will also note that um let's say for wheelock per se um the attendance for November compared to last year increased almost 2% and then uh in December almost 1% and again above that benchmark of 90 um our elementary school um in general some great numbers here um in September 96.2% 2% 93.78% 93.75% um in November. So some really good numbers there in moments that is almost 2% or 1% increase over the previous year. Uh middle school um some big jumps here um from last year to this year in October up about 3.02% nicely done. um in November about two four 2.49% increase from last year um and
033particularly in September and October 96.2 2 97.3 some really positive results there. Um also for high school which let's face it tends to be the most challenging in terms of attendance. Um again in October uh plus 0 53% uh in November a 1.94% increase. Um numbers in September 92.2% 2% 91 uh% in October 90.6 in November. So um some really positive developments. Um still some work to be done. In moments we dip down into the 89 um% attendance rate. Still pretty positive. Um but we're really trying to do things uh to ramp up that attendance um get those numbers as high as possible especially as we go throughout the year. months get a little colder, we get into flu and other sicknesses. So, we're really just trying to do the best we can to have
034students here attending part of what we're doing and participating um in their education. So, um we'll come back to this. I actually meant to do this um a month ago. I was kind of looking at it in blocks of three months throughout the year. So, this kind of pushed into the fourth. Um but we'll be coming back to this for time to time. And uh I think also as part of our round round table and moments that'll be part of the discussion um from our building principles. You might also remember um not too long ago we had some public comment around our booster fundraising and some questions um related to some of the details there. Now what we discovered and what we looked into that is that um we did not have a whole lot
035committed to writing um about our expectations some of the guidelines some of the things that were um looking for individual highlights. So we've gone back taken a look at that committed some things to writing um shared that out with some of our athletic staff for feedback some of our board members for feedback. So within what we're trying to um encourage here is just this idea of purpose first and really having a clear idea of why we're fundraising and what we're fundraising for. Um making sure that we are communicating and being transparent about what those efforts are, what those efforts look like. Um what are we looking to purchase? What are we looking to maybe keep as a surplus? um what does that look like from team to team? Also thinking about accountability um for that
036fundraising recordkeeping. Um if someone were to come with questions or concerns that our coaches and those people involved in fundraising would have information readily to share um with anybody who might inquire. Um, again, really thinking about who's over overseeing that fundraising, how can we contact them, what sports or teams are participating, start end dates, what's the nature of the fund, uh, raising, um, what's the anticipated profit, how will that money be spent specifically, um, and how these decisions will we recognize that there's nothing wrong at times with a coach um, or someone in charge of a program making decisions, but we also want there to be an opportunity um for feedback at times, some shared decision making, some informed decision making. Um and we're encourage everyone to think a little bit more about that. again
037recordkeeping, thinking about compliance with regulations and any of our policies related here and also thinking about really um encouraging everyone to participate um potentially motivating u people to be part of these fundraising efforts. thinking about um ethical sponsorship that we really want to think about um any organization that we get involved in and they connect with our mission, vision, core beliefs. Um thinking again about a student- centered approach. Um also um about the idea of being thankful and showing gratitude for those individuals who get involved or sponsor what we're doing here and really thinking about the long-term sustainability. Um we certainly um see nothing wrong in um kind of living for that year and making some purchases based on some needs in the the moment. But what is the big picture and what is the
038long-term plan and what does this look like over time? So um one of the person that's been very helpful here is Mr. Petrando, our athletic director. Um he has gone back and forth with a couple different drafts. um after tonight he will be sharing this with our um athletic department and also other people who might be involved in fundraising um and this will really be our guideline moving forward. I will also be sharing this back with anyone who came um to public comment and shared some thoughts about this so they can see that we are listening and we are willing to adjust and adapt and put something some things in place to address concerns that might come forward. So, we're happy to have that um as part of um how we're going to move forward
039with these efforts. Um also thinking a little bit of a recent communication we got from the controllers's office in New York State and also thinking a little bit about our audit findings that we heard about um in a previous meeting and also thinking about budget season coming up. Now, Mr. Forbes is great about um completing a variety of forms and information that needs to go to the state. They look at this information, look at this data um and then provide some feedback to where they believe we are um in terms of our finances. You probably remember in the past we were identified as a district success susceptible to fiscal stress. Um that was partly due to the um pretty dramatic significant decrease in our fund balance. Um when this is announced in mid January, maybe
040late January, we will be designated in the same category again this year. Um we want to be transparent about that upfront about that. Um we do not get a full breakdown of the reasons why. Um but as our auditor mentioned again our fund balance is lower than um we would like it to be. I think that's a absolute contributing factor. U Mr. Forbes I don't know if in the moment now um you'd have any other comments but um I know we'll get additional information when this report is actually released. Yeah, I think it's it's in great part due to the decrease in fund balance, but we've also had number of years where our expenses have been very tight the total budget which is contributing to fund balance decrease and if you follow a pattern to
041stay looking at those expenses, it all lines up that you're getting to a place that you're more lean than you have before. >> Thank you for that. Um, as we've been processing again the information from our auditor. Um, thinking about this notification or kind of the pre-notification from the controllers's office. Um, thinking about some of the struggles that we had last year with our budget. Um, the board has been processing information and starting to think about what really are the principles that we're identifying and are helping us make decisions. And this is still in draft form, but we're working our way through really committing some things to writing. Um in the moment right now we have um some thoughts about strategic alignment and again really thinking about our budget being a reflection of our mission,
042vision and core beliefs. Um also connecting with our long-term plan and the efforts that we're making to move those initiatives forward. Um thinking about fiscal responsibility and sustainability. And again, similar to our fundraising, thinking a little bit about um are we just managing year-to-year or are we thinking long-term big picture? Are we thinking about our reserves? Are we thinking about what that might look like down the road in terms of capital projects and those types of things? also thinking a little bit about efficiency and adjustment and using data to analyze um how we can maximize the resources we currently have. Um that would include staffing, services, aid, materials and supplies, equipment. Um and we'll be really taking a look closely at all of those elements as we begin to build the budget for this year.
043Also thinking about um the tax cap um and our review of the tax cap and where do we eventually fall in what we will recommend um in terms of the tax increase for this coming year. Um this has been an ongoing debate and this is certainly something every school district needs to decide. um we ultimately receive a cap. Let's just for example say 3%. And the question is then where do we actually land with the increase that we'll ask from our community and from our taxpayers? Would it be at that 3%? Would it be beneath that? Um so we'll be working on that as well. Um similar to the boosters, really thinking about being transparent, sharing information early starting tonight. um and um really not having someone for the community need to dig for information
044and um them feeling like there's an absence of information here at our meetings um from week to week from here really um until May. And lastly, really thinking about, you know, flexibility and adaptability that things do change. um we should be getting a first run of our state aid and even that sometimes shifts our thinking in terms of um what's a priority now, what things maybe can wait for the future and how do we think about how we um are able to um provide everything we want for our students and for our district if not now um over the course of several years. So, um, I wanted to share that first draft tonight. This is a work in progress, but you'll hear more about this as we move forward. Um, on a positive note, um,
045it's kind of been rivalry week here, um, at Fredonia over the last week or two. Um, some really great basketball games with Dunkerk, one away there, the boys, um, really great effort. And then the girls played here and this week is, uh, Southwestern. Our boys were over there last night. Great game. Very exciting. And uh the girls are here tonight. So um feel free to come on out and uh check out our winter athletics. Um a lot of exciting things happening and we uh invite you into the district into our buildings to uh check out our athletes in action. Any questions, comments from the board? Any any questions on the superintendent report at all or um you know thank you Dr. Zox Mr. Petra for uh updating the uh the booster fundraising guidelines or putting
046that together. That's a lot of work and again transparency. It's based on public public input basically that that kind of initiated that. I think we're in a better place which is great. Um the uh the budget principles I think we're all pleased to have that in in place. uh that's been formulated from our retreat. We had a budget retreat, I should say. Yeah, a budget retreat uh from that was uh run by the New York State School Boards Association back in November. We learned a lot from that. Um we're always willing to learn and um based on that and other things, we put together these principles. That's great going into the budget season. Um so, thank you. Thanks for the superintendence report. Yeah, the rivalry we rivalries are alive and well, aren't they? Is this
047strong this year, so that's that's great. Lot of fun. Um, well, that uh any other general comments from the board or Deshwan, you know, Deshwan and Miss Han and I and and Katherine got together with Dr. Zelios and we had a meeting the other other day and they had Katherine Deshwan provided a great input to us. Um so thank you Neshwan for that and we're looking forward to the second half of the year with that. Um so um the next regular uh board of education meeting will be Tuesday January 27th 2026 at 6 p.m. here in the high school library. I'll move into board administrators. I know I'm well start with you. Okay there you go. Um so a lot of positive energy coming back from winter break both from students and from staff which
048was great to see. Um our coding club started the first started last week which Miss Walter Rich, our library media specialist has started this year and it's an opportunity for our fifth graders which is nice to have um something for them. Um as you know many of our opportunities are for some of our older middle school students. Our modified girls basketball season ended on a positive note. And our boys modified started tonight with their first game against Falconer. the first team won and I'm hoping that it was just as successful for the second team um wrapping up probably right about now. And then going hand inand with that would be our cheer club which is an extracurricular opportunity that Mrs. Bernett runs for fifth through 8th graders. So that's nice that it's a wide range
049um of kids that are able to participate. So all good things. >> Great. Great. Thanks Miss Pony and Miss Madelli. >> Sure. Um the middle high school art show is this Thursday 5:30 to 6:30. So, invited to attend that. Um, that'll happen in the building. Our regent week and midterm week is next week here at the high school. Um, I just wanted to highlight the evening events page that Kate helps me put out on um our Facebook page. It just kind of alerts everybody to the evening events that are happening at the high school right now. Um, and that's art, music, everything that we can kind of throw on there. Uh, and make sure everybody is um aware of that. And and then I just wanted to let the board know that next week uh
050much earlier in the process, we start scheduling at the high school counselors and myself, we're meeting with our instructional leaders right now. Um we're talking a little bit about student enrollment numbers at each grade level, current offerings in that specific department, laying out the vision for their department, one year, three years, five years out. So when we sit down and do this a couple of years down the road, what do they want to see from their departments all the way up to about five years? So, um, we're starting that process a few months earlier this year, but that allows us to build the schedule a little bit earlier and and feel ready going into the summer rather than do that during the summer. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. >> Yeah. And, uh, speaking of the
051evening events, social media, I love that personally. >> I see that. >> I'm glad people are seeing it. Mr. Chanel is phenomenal about getting it to me on Sunday and >> Monday morning, we're ready to go. So, everybody knows what's coming for the week, which is awesome. I myself am attending more events because I know they're on. So, it's great. So, thanks for that. Um, Mr. Frell, >> thanks. Um, not a whole lot to report. I'm excited to be on boarding C next week. Um, we had a nice interview with her. She brings a lot of relevant school-based experience to us. So, that'll be really helpful because the second half of the year tends to be busier than the first half of the year in my world. Um, I also just wanted to comment on
052the help desk presentation. Um, I think that's a really worthy endeavor and um, at the beginning of the year I have this kind of frenzy every year to we use these things called FM systems in a lot of classrooms and it's a piece of technology. It's a big animal to manage and it's really hard for me to manage that. So, um, Andy Welock really came forward and said, "Hey, I've got some students that can help you out with this." And one student in particular who did not happen to be here tonight was just the greatest help to me to get these systems distributed to teachers to troubleshoot problems that they had to check in with me on a daily basis until we had it all. So, that's just one small example, but it it's super
053helpful and I think it's a really great thing. >> Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. 38 years in education and I wish I had to have had a help desk. They really do. I mean, teachers really need it. So, >> that's great, Miss Piper. >> Well, it was a big day today at lock. It was rubber ducky day. Today is National Rubber Ducky Day for those of you that don't know that. Hence the earrings. I did a quite loud shirt on that and decided to change for the Dr. Wright got to to see the very loud rubber ducky shirt. So, it was a very fun day. Um, Ellen Foley, as you all know, was a teacher of the year. um runner up a couple of years ago. One of the things that she received as part of
054that was um a hundred rubber duckies um because she just values what rubber ducky stand for and um whatnot. So she hid 100 rubber rubber duckies today around the building. So all of the four and five and six year olds today spent the day counting all of the rubber duckies up to a hundred around the building. It was great fun. A lot of joy in the building and who knew you could have so much fun with rubber duckies, right? A lot of fun. Um, we also had 48 of our kindergarten students do our winter break challenge. So, we are excited. We had um some leftover shirts from some of our past jamies. So, we'll be handing out shirts. Um, Mr. Betts from the print shop made us some nice certificates. So, pretty good that our
055students had challenged in doing some reading activities, some math activities. So, we're excited about that. Our prek is having a winter fest on Friday where they're inviting parents to come in and work with their students in different stations um surrounding winter which goes along with our winter solstice theme that we had the day before break which was a huge hit. Just great to teach the kids about the solstice what it meant and um so we're extending that a little bit and u many thanks to Dr. Wright our kindergarten and pre-K teachers today met and had some curriculum work together and got a lot accomplished. provided that opportunity for them to get together as a team. They don't have a lot of time to do that. They're always asking for time and they really used that
056time well today. Kindergart team met for half a day and pre-k team met for the other half a day and um it was just great to see them working together planning and whatnot. So, thank you for that. It was a really productive day despite all the rubber dart. >> So, yellow is the color of the day. >> Yellow is the color. There you go. >> Yeah. Thanks, Miss Piper. Dr. Right. >> Thank you. Thank you. Yes. I I walked into Welock for the early morning uh UPK team meeting for literacy. We do the meetings UPK is once a month and then um grades K through four are every week we meet to keep make sure our literacy initiative is is on track. And I walked in there was play the rubber ducky apparel and I
057was like, "Oh, it's rubber ducky day." Okay. I have no doubt about that. Um but uh shout out to um Christine Graham and Julie Hasset. they do this winter reading challenge and then they, you know, they do all the data and everything and then this big celebration for the students who reach their goals. So, um, huge kudos to them. It's a it's a um something they love to do and it requires a lot of additional time on their part, but um they really want to foster that love of reading and for children setting goals, right? That's part of leader needs to be our own agent, set a goal, make a strategy to meet it, all of those. That was exciting. Um, shout out to the elementary teachers and Mr. challenger for their um before break
058gala event that they had that um had the students in the elementary school just going like bananas with excitement. So that was a lot of fun um heading out to the holidays. And then a shout out again to Mr. Welock and the um IT student health desk team. Um Mr. Welock spends so much time with them as does um we have three days a week from Boseies um Zack Dake. He is a personal computer specialist. He also helps to um mentor the students and teach them some basics about Chromebook repair and things like that. Um and Mr. Be did a whole presentation at curriculum council about where things are with the IT department. Um things coming up, different initiatives um that we have to do, safety security things, all of that. Um but and also
059his hard work on the smart schools grant which is um a big lift but we we were approved and awarded and so that is going to be able to cover the cost of the replacement cycle for all of the teacher and administrator laptops. So all technology has a life cycle and it comes with a certain amount and so we you know he we work together for that fiveyear replacement cycle to make sure everything is on track with certain grade level bands things like that and of course we're always looking to do it as good stewards of budget. So luckily the smart schools grant covered that in full. So that was very exciting. So kudos to Mr. Wheelac for so much behind the scenes that many people don't see that he does. >> Great. Yeah, we
060always gladly accept grants, but it's a lot of work. >> Yes, we will. >> So thank you for that. Uh Mr. Forest, >> Morrison. >> Okay. Uh well, we uh anticipate the need to enter into executive session uh to discuss personnel. Do I have a motion? So move. >> Thank you. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Um yeah, thank you all for attending. Uh thank you Mr. Carman for attending you know on behalf of the paper. Um students, anybody can sign your forms. So have a good night everybody.