001Rock. >> All right. >> Call the meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge. >> Aliance 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. >> Thank you everyone for attending this evening. Our first item on the agenda is public comment. Anybody's here for public comment, please come on forward. Anybody in the interwebs has any questions, please feel free to forward those to the district and somebody will respond to you. And we'll go to board discussion. Um, first item, we have the minutes from the December 8th meeting. Any questions, concerns on those? Motion to approve those by Kelly, seconded by Kevin. All in favor for that extension. Correct. Or you are here. I was here. All
002right. Anybody have anything else for board discussion this evening? All right. Moving right along. We'll go on to the next item, which is superintendent report. Good evening. Thank you, Mr. President. Happy new year, everybody, board members, community members, and administration. Um before I get into tonight's board report, just want to point out some donations and retirements like I do every month, uh some of the donations the board will be voted on tonight. Uh books from the Cubby Fable Memorial Fund. Book was given to every uh student prek through fifth grade with the help of the senior class. We appreciate the generosity of the Cubby Fable Memorial Foundation. Uh donation of gloves, hats, and socks from Bucks Pizza. Thanks a recurring theme. uh donation of winter hats from the Golden Fleece Guild. Certainly uh the hat
003and the gloves and hats and socks are timeliness is important. Been a cold winter thus far and retirements. Uh Vicky Engles, reading teacher boulevard, effective 6:3026, which will complete 31 years of service. And Juliano Tulle, social worker at Park Terrace Elementary School, same effective 7126 after eight years of service. Thank both of those ladies for their service and wish them a long, healthy, happy retirement. Um, moving right along, just want to mention this past weekend on Saturday, we had a a uh it's a girls basketball fundraiser. It was resurrected the GESD Johntown staff basketball game and was held at Clover High School this year. And I would say it was a smashing success. Not just because we one-handedly because uh the two schools were able to raise over $800 a piece uh for the their
004program and our program and also the concessions. Uh I think a total of about $3,400 was raised uh competitive game roughly uh 30 plus staff members um on both sides. Um the women really set the tone. We were supposed to play a friendly game, but the the women started going at it and uh guys had to be the voice of reason and trying to count numbers. No, honestly, it was it was a competitive game. I There's a lot of teachers walking around limping today. Lot of bruises. I saw some bruises, but the honestly the atmosphere was very collegial. Everybody was positive. Everybody had a great time. It was one of the best community school events I've been to in the eight years I've been packed gymnasium. It was a great time. I think everybody who
005was in this room, who was there would agree that it was a really fun atmosphere for everybody. So, I think I think people got their their money's worth. So, we appreciate everybody supporting uh those programs. Update. Uh I don't know if the board I think I've been keeping you uh aware that we've had issues with our septic our uh in this building with backup uh our elevator in this building and also uh park boulevard roof which is brand new uh some issues uh obviously we've been ameilating those uh they are all taken care of. Just wanted to let you know that this bill for uh $6,700 going to Boseis and we believe that the you know the Bosei staff members been flushing wipes frankly uh that are non flushable. >> Not me. So shiny lot.
006So both is is is I appreciate the admin administration recognizing that uh you know they know exactly where it's coming from and maybe staff members just weren't trained to realize how important it is to not put those in there. They're not biodegradable. Um pretty significant backup and that's why the bill is pretty significant. And just for the board knowledge you want to see it. Uh the we had a problem in our elevator. We had Bosei staff member, two Bosei staff members and a student stuck in there for about an hour and 20 minutes. Fire department had to come and we thought we were going to have to use jaws of life to pry that door open. But uh the gentleman from the company was able to make it here before they had to take drastic
007measures. They were able to release a broken uh cable that was preventing it. It was on the ground floor. It wasn't falling. Um but it's obviously scary for those trapped inside. But my first question I asked myself was when was the last time that thing was approved and the date is 11625. It was checked and signed off on. So the unit uh logged so we're in good shape and that that we're doing everything we're supposed to be doing as far as ensuring safety of all equipment. It was a a rare failure and u glad everybody's okay. Obviously, they were shaken up a little bit, but all in all, I can't thank the fire department's professionalism and their response, as well as the company Otis that arrived as fast as they could to fix that situation.
008So, just some weird things. The roof is obviously something that uh that better be a a uh a one-off. This was a small dimeiz hole, I'm told, reported to Brian's office, Dennis. Right. Is that fixed? Is it stop? >> No issues. No issues over the last couple days. >> Okay. So, let's keep our fingers crossed. But that's a brand new roof. So, obviously, it's under warranty. You replace roofs for a reason, but you don't expect to have to deal with that uh in such short order. So, winter time is makes it even harder because of the challenges of ice and snow to find exactly where it's uh leaking. But, we did fix that. And this building, which is slated for replacement, has uh a number of issues. I >> mean, that's why it is a
009major ticket on this pending capital project. Speaking of which, the capital project kickoff meeting is February 2nd. >> Yes. >> And if any board members are interested in being part of that, 9:00 a.m., >> correct? >> 9:00 a.m. February 2nd. >> So, be in this room and you're welcome to attend. Um, early CT, I don't know if Cody, are you going to speak to that in your report? >> Okay. So, uh, we had a meeting the other day, Christina, just a quick update. Christina and uh and Mike Dez from H Fosce continued to move. They've narrowed down roughly four pathways that we hope to focus on for the 2627 school year. At this point now, it is uh ensuring that our component districts are going to commit to the numbers uh that we think are
010are needed to sustain the program, come up with a cost that we think is is uh commensurate with with what it takes to run it. and um we'll go from there and then obviously start hiring teachers. Mike seems uh very confident that that's not going to be an issue and we think that there's plenty of is of interest here in Gloversville where there will be and not that it's going to be marketing it to uh current eighth and nth graders to see who might be interested in attending. I like the way that Christina and Mike have developed this program where it's a standalone kid could start as a 10th grader, they can go on to uh career tech at Boseies as 11th grader or not. Um, same thing with ninth graders. It could do each
011year stands alone so one doesn't build on the other. So, I like the way they're building it. It gives kids flexibility and options and also that real world application and exposure that we're hoping to achieve and and it obviously gets them hopefully out of their seats more, but that's something we hope to achieve even in our own classrooms as we move forward. So, we really can't thank them enough for their leadership in creating this program. I noted something the board and I spoke Chris uh at the beginning of the school year when we started whole development and the board was 100% behind us and so we've certainly been a catalyst and bringing us to fruition. We hope Miko we expect Mo will be the site of that school. The certificate of occupancy is is current.
012We're ready to go. Building looks great. Um last but not least, uh state of the district report. Obviously not going to go into great detail. It's a fairly sizable document. We might use chat GPT to try to shorten it to make it more palatable for the district. But I'd like to get this out there to the community. Um just try to, you know, I think we'll send this version out as well for those who wish to kind of read and get a little more granular with their knowledge of what we're doing uh instructionally. You see the strengthening teaching learning elementary updates, secondary uh higher order thinking, real world application, interdisciplinary learning, post-secondary planning. uh the focus for uh office of student support services and then obviously those all those areas outside of instruction such as
013safety technology and innovation AI which is not just for uh helping kids to to utilize it but also help our adults utilize it to become more productive frankly um as I said I'm going to put this document back in the chat GPT and let that let the technology make it uh condense it make it uh easier for people who might not want to spend as much time reading a six-page document. Very proud of the work we've done in this district over the last number of years. Capital projects that we've done in the past, uh melating issues that have been left for years and years and years, decades, frankly. um the two the turf fields that we have now, the turf field that we're building, replacing all the roofs, secure vestables vestibules throughout the district, upgrading
014our infrastructure for technology, redoing all the hallways uh in and buildings and needed uh kind of a a makeover for aesthetic purposes. I I really think our campuses I've been in a lot of schools. My kid plays sports and I'm in a lot of schools and have been over the last years and Glover has facilities that are really second to none. I know those who travel to a lot of schools I think would would agree with me on that. Whether it's our athletic fields, our auditoriums, our gymnasium, our pool, our track, our uh buildings, we have beautiful campuses here and uh our student population and our community should be proud of the work the board of education has done over a long period of time and establishing and maintaining such nice facilities. and this pending
015capital project that the the community overwhelmingly supported is going to transform Husky Stadium into a showpiece into an absolute regional showpiece that can be used for a multitude of reasons. So, tip my hat to the board, this current and former boards uh and administrators administration who has had the foresight to ensure that Gloversville is going to have state-of-the-art facilities. um you know teaching and learning I'll just say this you know it's been suggested recently in a large uh scale effort that uh we are not a successful school system and I would beg to differ we have a lot of successful people working very hard to raise uh the next generation of residents of Gloversville I'm proud to lead this organization I couldn't be prouder of the people that I've hired and the people that I
016inherited uh in this school system. Just having a conversation with Sarah today and she said a lot of people are working really hard and she's absolutely right. Um and our kids and our community uh yeah we want more kids to graduate. We need parents and guardians to meet us to be our partners to get their kids to school. I didn't mention our attendance efforts. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a small city and everybody pulling at the ore to help our kids be successful to paint a better picture for them uh so they can exceed their perceived limitations and lead productive lives. And high school graduation, it should not be an option. Every kid in this community should graduate from high school. Um you know, maybe it's something we can do
017a better job. I have no doubt we can do a better job and we're striving all the time to do a better job. Uh but to suggest that we are a failed school system is a real misnomer. Uh and Frankly, a really ignorant uh assertion and that is why I'm going to try to push this message out that Harvard Lar School District uh is a fine school system and people work really hard here and our kids thrive. I have a son who's graduating this year and he's had an outstanding experience over the last five years here as well. So, he's proud to be senior. So, that concludes my report. I have no need for an executive session unless the board wishes to discuss. The only thing I do want to say is we're going to
018start negotiations with CSCA in February and I will be looking to see if some board members who would want to be participate in that. But as far as uh personnel or anything else, I have no need for executive session. I report questions. Move along to our administrative reports and the first we have high school. Uh good evening everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm Cody Hedwell, the high school principal. uh give you the report of Gloversville High School. So, uh this year I met with the building leadership team and you know, we pinpointed three areas that we would like to see uh improvement. I don't think this would be a surprise to anybody that's been in the district for quite some time, but we really started to focus in again on attendance, our relationships
019and family connections, and our college and career readiness. Um I think attendance efforts have been widely known that we want our is here. We want them here as much as we can when they're healthy and able. Um relationships and family connections, those are the things that help us kind of move the needle, move us forward. Our kids have spoken out and said, you know, we're looking for teachers who are committed to us. We're looking for staff that are committed to us and they're ready to be in our classes when they're of interest and we can kind of get them moving in the right direction. And that last goal is that college and career readiness. We want our scholars not only to graduate but be ready for life after graduation. You know, what does that look
020like? And it can look like a number of different things for a number of different people. Um, if you are a scholar who's furthering your education in college, we want you to be ready and successful in those classrooms because it's going to look a lot different than when you're walking the halls of GHS. If you're an individual who's going to join our career force, we want you guys to be able to be ready and, you know, understand what the expectations are again when you leave GHS and you're entering the real world. So, those are things we're focusing on as we kind of move through the school year and we're really looking at how can we improve the building. Just a look at our attendance so far. So, this is the last, it's the current school
021year. In the last two, we're up to 74 days. This is through Friday. Um, as you can see, we have been making some improvements. We're at 89 and a half% this school year. Um, you know, still quite a ways off from where we would want to be. Really our goal from when we started the strive for five initiative was we want to be a district that sits at 95% with all of our buildings but as you can see in the last three years we've gone from 85 to 89 which is great jumps. Um you know I think our kids are you know finally almost all the way through a strive for five program. You know, when Brian and I uh were at Boulevard together, that was that first year of strive for five for our
022district, and those kids are the fifth grade class would be the junior class now. Um so hopefully we're seeing those, you know, dividends start to work all the way through the district. You know, if our kids aren't in the building, it's very hard for them to get the materials that they need. And that's why we preach to them being here and being here often and consistent is what's the most important. if you aren't here, you're not going to be able to understand the material that we're teaching. So, you know, and those consistencies come with, you know, how do we act in school and just how do we build uh just the things we need to be successful. Um but yeah, so as you can see, we're we're trying to trend into that right direction. We're
023chipping away here at getting to 95, but we still have some room to grow. Um with that I know last meeting uh GMS talked about having their mentoring meeting our program starting. GHS is in the second year of the mentor program. Um the current impact we have 44 scholars that have been selected and actively participating in the program. Uh each of our mentors has at least two mentees. One of the things that we strongly urged our mentors about is we have a bunch of names of scholars that we were selecting. Um there's many teachers and staff that were a part of it and had relationships with scholars that were in that 44, right? Try to venture into don't pick someone you already have a relationship with. If you already have a relationship with that scholar,
024I don't need you to be with that scholar again. I need that scholar to make another connection. Um, so I worked with the staff and um, Mr. Venos who's kind of overseeing the mentor program to push our staff to say go find someone that you might not know. Talk to someone in the room that you say like hey I have a really good connection with this scholar. I think they would have a really good connection with you too because when we build more connections with those kids, we're having more success with them getting in to the building every day. So try to push them to say find someone you don't know and make a connection, get to know them, help them, you know, become a better scholar. Our mentors are meeting with them each week.
025And just some of the outcomes to date, we have a 15% improvement in academic performance out of the scholars in the program, a 9 uh% reduction in referrals, and an 18% improvement in attendance with those scholars. Any questions about the mentoring program itself? All right. Um, as we know, there's quite a bit of new coming to us with our New York State graduation requirements. Um, I know we've been talking about this as something that's coming down the the pipe. I know there's some of our seniors in the back that are excited, but this has nothing to do with any of you guys. So, just keep doing what you're supposed to be doing. But for kids that are coming through, there are changes. Um, you know, the this is based on the blue ribbon commission, you
026know, the shift from high stake exams to, you know, having other measures to say how successful we are being in the classroom. Um, you know, we're trying to phase this in or as early as 2027, they're saying the seventh grade, current seventh graders are going to be fully immersed into the new requirements. um you know the purpose is so that we have more flexibility and we can see more kids uh seeing success. Um what would really change with these is regions exams no longer a graduation requirement. Um if you see in parenthesis regions may continue for assessment and accountability purposes. We do anticipate some regions still being required as they are um just requirements for our federal requirements. Um, and we're thinking it's going to be ELA, science, and uh, math. Um, but those aren't
027out yet. So, there could be changes to that, but that's what we're anticipating right now. So, for a major overhaul, it's going to be most of those are going to be changing, but we can still see that some of those are still going to be requirements. Um, there would be a change to one statewide diploma with seals and endorsements on top of that. So as scholars earn more things, they would have more endorsements on the diploma rather than having different diploma types. Um, and really the focus is going to be the performance-based CTE and work-based learning and the dual enrollment foundation. So why I'm bringing this up again is more for the outlook of what it's going to look like at the high school. Um, with these requirement changes, we're going to see a change
028in what we're doing at the high school. We're going to have less reason to have all all of our AIS classes or our labs um for scholars that were trying to get through a region's exam. Some scholars are taking two two tries, three tries to get through and it's causing us to have more opportunities for them to, you know, relearn the material or get help through the mater material as they're taking the class. Now, with that, we're looking at how do we offer more electives. Um, so really pushing on to our teachers to say what offerings could we replace those things with to give our kids more opportunities. Uh those classes are also going to be required for the different pathways that a scholar chooses to go through. Similar to the conversations we had earlier
029this school year about the additional art classes. Uh we could see those through um other departments as well. Why I'm bringing this up is because the lady next to me likes to know about >> I was just going through my head like what is this going to cost? >> More birds. Uh so a little joke. Um but no the with new classes there's going to be materials that we do need. Um so upfront would be a cost but hopefully we can you know have those things as we establish the course it'll be a reduced cost over time. Um but like we saw as like when we add a classes sometimes we have to you know see what we need. Um we did develop a more um comprehensive uh program. So, if teachers are requesting a
030to add a class or um add in something for the next year, is they're really telling us what that class looks like and what the cost would really be again. So, Kathy will remain happy with me. So, she's not blindsided by a cost of courty um with that. So, just a reminder that we did say there are some regences that might be staying. So, there are some regences that are changing this year. Um, English is one. This is in January is going to be the last administration of the current regions. In June, we will see eight new regions. Um, Earth Science, it says it changed up there last year. You know, some of these that are starred, they have a kind of an overlap because of the standards and things that are being taught in
031the course aren't aligned with the old regions with the new regions. So, there is like a four administration kind of overlap. So a lot of these will will see the new administration and regions starting this year. Um but there is some overlap just so when we're looking at data it's in the future it's going to be something new. Um you know we're not going to be able to look back and say you know this is how we performed last year on the earth science and then moving forward this is because there'll be two different exams. I just wanted to kind of bring that up for future meetings just so you guys are aware. Um staff at the secondary level have been really involved in professional development uh focusing on instructional like an instructional focus. We're
032working with Cheryl Doverton. Um Cheryl's a teacher, veteran teacher who's been working with us to try to make us uh push a little bit more towards our our questioning. So there's a little overview about Cheryl, but really her training is about strengthening our questioning practices. um utilizing that cognitive ladder. So trying to get our teaching staff to use um questions with more rigor and depth. Um these will help our scholars as they progress into the regions and you know have a higher order thinking or a better understanding of the questions that were being asked. The purpose is to support um constant high quality instructional practices. And just an overview I know Christina will kind of go more in depth with this next month. um she works handinhand with Cheryl, but just really we've spent quite
033a number of uh on-site days. We've had three trainings as staff in the secondary level with Cheryl. Um and really trying to move those practices forward. >> She really seems well received. Yeah. >> By the staff. I think that her it's a difference that we've had in PD um in the past is like Cheryl comes to us with a background in sec secondary experience and she's really helping us understand what we can do for kids. I think you know there's been times where she's said simple comments I think that for her might be throwaway comments but it really enlightens the whole room you know like kids saying you know coming up with a blank question and saying I couldn't find this answer. she laughs and says, "Yeah, because that answer didn't come from the packet.
034It had to come from your head." And it's one of those questions like it really takes some thinking to get that answer. And you know, over time we've always told kids, it's like you look back in the reading, look back in the reading. But for some of our questions, you don't look back in the reading. You have to kind of use your skills to, you know, improve on what we're we're doing. So, you know, without instruction in that, we kind of miss that. which which mirrors what the we're hearing from the workforce and industry is that they need kids to be collaborators and solution finders not just regurgitators of information. >> Yeah. And you know being productive members is understanding is that you have to go through a process of you know being proactive and
035you know figuring out a solution to some problems you're going to face. You're not always going to have step-by-step directions to get through it. So really her work is to improve what we're doing in the classrooms and you know we had a a staff member reach out I think she sent an email to you as well as about you know doing a survey with the kids about why they're coming to school what makes them want to come to school what makes them stay home and one of the biggest uh things that I highlighted in their responses was they're willing to come to school more when they're really engaged in the classroom and I think with questions and you know more opportunity speak and work together. You were going to see a, you know, kids that
036wanted to see us do different things in the classroom and that's what we're doing. So, >> it's a great uh shift in the focus of not what it's not what we're teaching, it's what they're learning. That's where the focus needs to be is what the kids are learning, not what we're imparting. >> Uh, and lastly, just some events that our scholars at the high school level have been kind of going through this year. So, we had a fall funday earlier this school day that was uh connected with our fall pep rally. We had our Holly Jolly volleyball tournament um just before break which also included our winter pep rally. And then on January 26 after our regent uh week is concluded and we're coming back for our second semester where we'll start off with a
037wellness day which is a lot of different stations for our scholars to partake in and kind of get themselves resettled before we start a second semester. That's all I have for tonight, but if you guys have any questions. >> Well, thank you everybody. >> Thank you. Nice job. Thank you. >> Next report is Boulevard Elementary School. Here, I'm going to be ready. It's only not working because you tested it before the meeting. >> It is. >> Let's try. Don't worry. >> All right. Thanks for the opportunity to speak about Boulevard, our school improvement plan, and uh the alignment with our school district goals. >> I'm going to be talking about these four components. Maybe we talk about these four components of the of our school improvement plan. Thanks, Chris. Uh you guys have it here
038and I I have it here, too. Um, when you look at the the left and the and the right side of that slide, it's really about attendance and social emotional learning. That directly corresponds to the school district goal of relationships. All right. Um, our attendance at Boulevard has continued to improve and we'll talk more about each one of these throughout the presentation. The social emotional learning component is a review of our current resources to make sure that our the resources that we do have align with what our students and families need to support their so social emotional growth. We did create some goals for that to increase emotional safety and reduce peer conflict um and provide explicit instruction and emotional regulation, conflict resolution and resilience. Under academic progress, of course, we're looking at our curriculum
039and instruction. We're refining the use of our CKLA and ready math programs at the elementary level and specifically at Boulevard. Um, you know, the we're really looking to increase studentto student academic discourse, some differentiation, uh, and ensure that all students have access to highlevel and grade level text. Um, project leadway is another, uh, important component to our building improvement plan. It is aligned with academic improvement, but actually uh I see that as a connection to our post-secary planning and the skills students need are uh as they leave Boulevard. Um we're focusing on uh computer science as the curriculum component there. Um but as you see in the rest of the presentation, it's less about computer science and more about project-based learning, hands-on learning, teamwork, collaboration, and communication. I really encourage you to ask me questions
040along the way. Uh or if you want to ask me questions at the end, please feel free to do that, too. But we'll jump right in here. Uh of course, you see 92.95 is our attendance rate as of uh this school year at Boulevard. It has continued to grow over the last three years. Um this is just an example of this is really a culmination of efforts that shows the relationships that we're really attempting to build at Boulevard between students and families and our staff members. and we do a fantastic job. Um, here's an a couple of examples of what our boulevard attendance looks like. 268 strive for five scholars. That means we had 268 students who had perfect attendance for the month of December. >> That's 48% of our scholars had perfect attendance. We
041celebrate that every month. And that, you know, December that was a pretty good month, but basically every month looks just about like that. Um, we've had an 8% reduction in chronic absences. Students are being recognized for perfect attendance, of course, but also improving attendance. We do that in a variety of ways. Uh they do get uh pizza parties for the highest classroom percentage, and Miss Decker's class is getting a pizza party this month for having the most improved attendance for her scholars. So, we really try to look at uh attendance as an improvement effort, and we acknowledge it every opportunity that we can. So, relationships, improved relationships is a result of improved culture and uh Mr. Bay and I have been really working to support that improved culture at Boulevard. It is a full building
042effort to do the work with discipline and attendance and the teachers, staff members, front office folks do a fantastic job with it. Here are some examples of things uh that are kind of representative of our student discipline. So out of school suspensions, we've had nine incidents of out of school suspensions this year at Boulevard. That's three fewer than last year at this time. We've had a steady decrease in the number of students in out of school suspension uh over the last four years. It's been a steady decline. That's in no small part to kind of these three bullets at the bottom. Our student turnaround room, uh our check-in checkout program, and our morning greetings. And I'll talk a little bit about each of those. Our student turnaround room is um really an alternate place for
043students to go. We introduced it last year and we've improved on it this year. Um it's an alternate setting where students can access to all the academic materials. Um, but they also can regulate and return to class. Um, it really helps to lower the distractions that are happening in the classroom so other students can learn, but also that student can go and learn and they're not missing out on their curriculum. Uh, I will say the two staff members that we have in there, Miss Trojan and Miss Wearing, do a fantastic job building relationships with students, holding students accountable, but also helping them to regulate their emotions. For example, I was walking by the other day. We have a a stationary bike um with a a tabletop so students can actually work on their work and
044pedal to kind of get that energy out. And there's a student like pedaling away doing his math. Um and you know, instead of getting in trouble for having all that excess energy, he's able to do that and then return to class um and stay focused on their schoolwork. Uh check and checkout is our tier 2 uh PBIS intervention. Uh we've expanded that this year um with hopes uh we're really looking at um working with 30 students in our check-in and checkout program. So really expanding it like threefold from what we did last year. And you know Dennis really wanted me to put this in here and I agree with him. Morning meetings or morning greetings, I'm sorry. Uh, all scholars that enter our building at Boulevard are greeted by no less than two people with
045a welcoming uh, greeting. Glad to see you. I'm glad you're here. Have a great day. It doesn't matter if they're coming in off the bus or coming in the front door. That's even before they get to the breakfast line where they get greeted again and uh, get a great meal to start their day. So, we really try we're really trying to improve the building culture and it's a full uh team effort to do so. And I think it shows uh with our attendance and some of our discipline uh numbers so far this year. >> Just along those lines, Brian, I I can't reiterate that enough. When I go to Boulevard, you got you and Dennis, if I'm walking halls with you guys, the kids are coming up high, gravity, hugging your waist. Uh you know
046their name. Both of you do a great job. Uh culture at Boulevard is it's a welloiled machine. It's a positive atmosphere and I certainly welcome any board members want to come walk through that building. It's when I when I first got here, Boulevard was uh was not what it is today and I you deserve a lot of credit for that. You got a great staff over there and uh you Dennis are great team. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, anybody's always welcome to come over. It's great. Um so another part of our building improvement plan is the uh SEAL, the social emotional learning program review. um as part of our building leadership team. We've had um three excellent parents be very consistent in attending our building leadership team meetings, but we've had a focus on uh you
047know what is the right social uh seal program for our students right now. Uh we're currently using second step but it's a a version from like 2015. We feel like it might be a little outdated and it's not really meeting the needs of our scholars right now postco. So, uh, we're reviewing three, uh, SCL programs right now. One is an updated version of Second Step because it is a great program. Um, but again, we're really looking to increase emotional safety and reduce peer conflict with a potential implementation uh, in fall 2026. Academic progress and this is part of that curriculum work that we've been doing. Uh you can see the green arrows there are really positive thing that is um third, fourth and fifth grade math and ELA New York State assessment results from uh
048our most recent data right uh as compared to uh the previous year to that. Right? So that's a one-year growth. You see there's lots of arrows there. Some have more growth than others. Some had more to gain there. Um, this is in no small part to the work that we've been doing with CKLA, Ready Math, and our WIN program. Um, we continue I think the consistency that we built K5 for our reading and math programs have been integral in making this a reality. Uh, and like that top little statement says there, there has been an overall growth in ELA and math and New York State assessment standards since 2022. You can see our the growth is continuing to happen. This is just one example, one year's worth of growth that we've seen. Um, and our
049state assessment scores. I didn't put the science up there, but that grew too quite honestly. Um, we are doing our targeted literacy and math supports with our win program still. That's 40 minutes uh of ELA and math targeted instruction for every scholar. Um, and then the real focus this year, our professional development for teachers has been on student engagement, right? RCK Kelly program for example has excellent stories and many students are really engaged by that content but it's a lot of direct instruction and so you know the person doing the talking is the person doing the learning so if the teacher's doing all the talking and the students aren't having that opportunity it's not really going to get there. Um and so that's where our professional development has really been focusing on using some of
050the embedded stuff that's already in that program to do differentiation. We have projects and celebrations all structured within CKLA, but really diversifying our teaching strategies to support those learners and really get them engaged is our focus this year. And we can do that with our try and discuss connect routines in the ready uh I'm ready math program. So it's happening on both fronts there in reading and in math. Project lead the way has been a fantastic addition to boulevard. uh it connects directly with the project leadway and the secondary level. It is in grades three through five. So all third, fourth and fifth graders are having uh are completing one unit of study under that uh umbrella of computer science. I really want you to take a peek at that picture. You're going to see
051like a lot of movement. You're going to see students working. But when I say computer science, you don't see a computer in front of any of those students. In fact, all their Chromebooks are stacked up over here on the table, right? Because it's not necessarily about just straight up coding. That's not what Project Lead the Way is. The computer science is is one pathway to do it, but this is project based learning. This is real world scenarios. This is students having the opportunity to communicate and like work as a team to solve a problem. And you do that with hands-on activities and then it converts over to some of that coding and computer science. It's really cool to watch in action. Um, and it really I I think this is really important to building those
052post-secondary skills. I have one more picture and a couple other things here about project lead the way. There's another great example. Computers are stacked on the sides. These guys are doing hands-on work. It is all about coding. What is code? A code is just telling a computer to do something. So really they're really kind of understanding what that is as a philosophy and then building some foundational skills to do that work as a team. U computational thinking uh that's what they're working on to design, test and improve solutions. Uh collaborating with peers solving real world problems, right? They need to be able to debug programs, reflect on their thinking and make improvements to their own work as they go. great u postsecondary skills there. Okay. So, we do all that work as part of our
053building improvement plan, but we actually, you know, Boulevard does an excellent job focusing on the whole child. So, beyond those things that we've talked about, here's a list of just some more of the things that Boulevard really tries to engage students and families in. I'll read a couple of them. Our arts residency for fifth grade is a big one. Um, we have our PBIS system and our weekly school store. Uh, of course we have lots of celebrations. Our Skidmore has visitors, uh, helping teachers and students to learn how to move in the class while still learn and be active and and engaged. I'm going to stop right here on this one. Our First Choice federal student banking program is a financial literacy program. We're uh, we've quadrupled the size of that banking program this year.
054It's been an excellent community connection for us and uh we have students that not only are learning financial literacy, they have their own bank accounts. The the the bank actually comes to Boulevard and they do their deposits right at Boulevard. Kids get an immediate incentive for bringing in that deposit and then they learn over time what it looks like to grow their um grow those little little uh deposits into something where they can do something really cool with it. So, um, the First Choice financial student banking program has been fantastic for us. Oh, by the way, that those pictures over there are the frog and toad drama production that we did. Uh, that was a super hit. Um, and I just wanted to get into just a few of the extracurricular activities that kids have
055access to. Of course, we know band chorus, swim, after school, tutoring. Um, I've had more teachers uh coming to me to do more clubs than I can even uh than I can manage. Um there's more that they the teachers wanted to do this year for uh students. Uh and these are what the the final kind of list was. That again is Frog and Toad. They did an excellent job and they did a performance for the whole school last year. This year they're doing Willy Wonka. I think there's 80 students in that club uh in that in the drama performance uh that they're working on now. But we have many mileers, no bake cooking club, writing and illustration, gardening club, kindness. there's a lot of opportunities for students to engage um with our school outside of
056those academics. Finally, we are really proud of the work that we do at Boulevard and we want all of our fifth graders to be extremely successful as they go to the middle school and beyond. Um I think we've done really great things on the left side here are our current practices in that transition from fifth grade to sixth grade. Um of course we have our moving up ceremony. Uh we bus all of our fifth graders up to the middle school to take a tour and meet the sixth grade teachers, get a lay of the land. Uh the sixth grade counselors come down to Boulevard and meet with every classroom and every teacher so they know exactly who that is. We hold events up there so families and students can go up there and kind of
057see what it's uh what it's like. Um Mr. Overall has been down, Mr. Heiser's coming down to Boulevard and some of our assemblies to put a name and a face uh together for our fifth graders. Last year we introduced yonder pouches to our fifth graders. Uh so when they went up to the middle school that wasn't something new for them or a challenge, but uh Mr. Heiser and I were really thinking that there's more that we can do and that we want to do to make sure that that transition is a successful one. We don't have all the answers, but we are engaging with our teachers to help us see what that transition can be. So, fifth grade teachers are going up to the middle school to see uh what those routines and structures and
058instructional practices look like. Sixth grade teachers are going to be invited down to Boulevard to see what our instructional strategies look like, what are our daily expectations, what are our behavior expectations, what all that look like from us, and then we're going to work together to figure out how we can uh kind of bridge those two worlds. Listen, I have two middle school students right now in my house. I know that that transition can be a challenging one uh even for the best of students and families, but we want to try to uh make that as smooth as we can for all the Gloversville families. Uh there are some other things that we are kind of uh again this is a little bit in its infancy. But we're going to be continuing to work on
059this throughout the spring. But um exploring PBIS, maybe some more videos, uh family experiences at GMS, sixth grade ambassadors, things like that that we can really still continue to build connection with the middle school. That's all that I have for today. Do you have any questions or anything I can answer for you? >> Good job. >> Great job. Great report showcasing the great work you and your staff are doing. Thank you. >> Yeah, I would just like to say before we move on that uh those two reports to me showcase point I was trying to make that you know the district like lovers where we have a lot of challenges there's no coasting going on here. Everybody's working hard to continue to continuously try to improve and I hope that that's what uh was evident
060today with these two reports. Both of these buildings are uh are great examples of of the work being done throughout the district trying to help our students be successful. So, thank you to everybody in this organization working to that end. Our next item is the student board member report and I'll turn it over to Jenna Lyn Silva, our alternate board members here tonight. Hi guys from I'm going to be putting a little bit of touch on the current recent events that happened in the high school. So we had Holly Jolly as he said um it was on December 19th at GHS. We had our annual Holly Jolly volleyball tournament in which each student got to pick out their team of six or seven and two staff members to join them during the game. The gymnasium
061was packed with Christmas music and a crowd of people cheering. Congrats to the big win, the Christmas treasures. We also had LeShan's heart Christmas Eve sleigh sleigh ride on December 23rd. Key Club as well as many other volunteers came together to do our sixth year in a row Leseawn's Hard Christmas Eve sleigh ride, bringing excitement and Christmas joy to over 400 children. Big thank you to Jen Hazard for helping with organizing along with Gloversville PVA and Jurassic Jams. We also had Santa Project. The class of 2026 came together to do our traditional Santa Project. We brought Christmas joy to Gloversville community, singing carols, dropping off brand new books to younger scholars and giving sweet treats, sweet treats to Gloversville school districts around. Thank you so much to the Cubby Cubby Fabo Favville Memorial Fund for
062making it possible for the seniors us to bring books to all the students prek through five as well as Mrs. Boger, Jacob, Jacob, Parin, and Kelly for making the trip perfect. Thank you to the Rainbow as well as thank you to the Rainbow Play School, Birkshshire and Glojo Fire Department, and the police department and city hall for welcoming us seniors to sing Christmas carols. Um, just recently, January 10th, we had the Gloversville versus Johntown faculty basketball game. Yes, it was very thrilling and in intense but was also a reminder to help to also a reminder to what our community is about. This event was as a remembrance of making connections and how our school spirit is and bringing the community together. Thanks to everybody who showed up. Thank you. >> Any questions? Good job. All
063right, we'll move on to recommended items. Uh, we have items 7.01 through 15.16. >> I can do 012. >> Can I donate? >> You didn't donate it. >> You don't want to be recognized. It's up to you. >> Kind of like it. >> Me. It wasn't from it's the foundation that did this. >> Okay. >> So, >> anybody need anything pulled or >> discussion? All right. Motion to approve all those items by Ed. Seconded by Heath. All in favor? That's no nos or abstensions. Is anybody need anything for executive burn desire to have executive session? >> All right. Motion to adjourn the meeting then. Rob seconded by Mike. All in favor for that. >> That'll be an eight nothing on that. >> All right. Thank you everyone for attending. Anybody needs their paperwork signed over
064here?