001to call the meeting to order as soon as Andrew says we're good. >> Right. >> See you in charge. Everybody please rise for the pledge. >> Pledge of 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. >> Good evening everyone. Thanks for attending. You see, on this cold, rainy, dark evenings. >> Um, the truth. >> Seriously, driving home in the dark is terrible. Um, from Albany, too, here. I can't imagine going the other way. >> Um, all right. First item on the agenda, we have a presentation from our elementary PTA. And then we'll turn it over to them. Let's do >> Come on, chair. Pop up. >> Need a bottle of water. >> I don't
002have any. >> Can we have a raise? >> Nope. >> You're fine. >> Double zero. All righty. So, um the Gloversville Elementary PTA tonight is going to be um kind of recapping where we left off last year this time. Um and going, uh through what we're doing currently, um as well as what we have planned for the rest of the year. Um so, my name is Teresa Bush. Um I'm president of our elementary PTA. Um this is vice president. We also have in the back Melissa Hi who's our treasurer um and Amanda Titz who's our secretary. So uh in the packets that you have in front of you um everything that I'm going to kind of do tonight is going to be just a basic kind of um touch point of everything. Um but the
003packets that you have in front of you uh go more in depth on everything that I'm going to talk about tonight. So you can kind of look it over at your leisure. Um but just a quick snapshot of um our 2425 year um kind of broken down in numbers. Um we handed out over 700 books, 20 free laptops. We gave out um over 25 arts awards. Um we helped funding uh field trips for all of our scholars. Field days. We had uh seven family uh nights slash days. Um we organized picture days for three buildings. We gave out six awards to community members. Um we had four areas of focus for last year um that are going to carry over into this year as well. That's STEM, arts, literacy, and community. Um we provided an
004assembly for all of our scholars. Um and we advocated in meetings with offices of two senators and two house representatives. Um, so this time last year we just came off of Spooky STEM and it's the same this year. Um, do you want to talk a little bit about it? Um, it's Alicia's baby. >> Yeah, this one's kind of my baby. Um, yeah, I really enjoyed this one. It's basically like a hands-on science fair. So, last year we had 13 stations to keep it spooky, but we were up to 21 this year. Um, lots of different kinds of experiments covering all different areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. Um, I think we had about 70 75 kids this year. So, um definitely had a good turnout again and everyone seemed to have a lot of
005fun. >> Um so, uh as Alicia said, um so Principal Benjamin had come to us and said she's trying to get more prek more prek um um more prek uh families into the schools. Um so uh we kind of expanded uh the tables to cover that prek um uh age group. Yeah. A little more sensory activities and um recognizing numbers, not necessarily higher higher math kids are doing. >> Yes. Um and the idea behind it is essentially um everything at all the tables for the most part um stuff that families can do at home. Um, so we encourage families to take pictures of the instructions. Um, so that they can kind of recreate it at home. Um, and it kind of brings that learning. Yeah. Um, and I'm going to be posting all of the
006experiments. I'm almost done getting the instructions down to a printable size. Um, because they're giant on the tables in the event um, and with like the worksheets and everything so people can do at home. So next is um the national PTA reflections program. Um so for the last 50 years um National PTA um has uh offered this program. It's essentially a tiered arts uh competition. So um at the unit level uh we recognize all of the scholars that participate. Um if they move on to region they can get uh scholarships to state they get scholarships at the national level um much larger scholarships. Um I think national gave out close to $2 million last year um for uh for kids all across the country. So um this year we're doing it again. So last year's
007theme was um accepting imperfection. This year's theme is I belong. Um and Lisa Guda is uh hosting um some after school workshops uh where she kind of takes the kids and walks them through um exploring the theme and creating pieces. Um so November 21st at Boulevard we're going to have our art showcase. Um and every kid that participates is going to get a little um a little medal um and it's a nice little family night to celebrate those kids. So, speaking of Lisa Guda, um so New York State PTA, they have um the innovative teacher grant every year. Um and essentially it encourages teachers from all across New York State to uh come up with an idea that uh reaches as many kids as possible. Um and then uh depending on the impact um and
008the reach um they could be awarded funds. So Lisa um was one of 10 winners for New York State this uh last year and was to revamp the uh courtyard. So she got $400. Um and then our PTA unit uh contributed another 500. Um, and if you've been over to Boulevard in the courtyard area recently, um, there's it makes it a flex space essentially. So, there's flexible seating, um, there's a hammock, there's, um, little board games and things like that. So, um, Play-Doh, bubbles, um, things to kind of go outside, have quiet time, um, read books, etc. Kids painted. Yes. Um, so what you won't be able to hear is all the oo's and a's, which makes me kind of sad. Um, because there's a lot of them. Um, so >> you can hear it.
009Um, so last year, um, we brought an indoor planetarium to all three buildings. Um, it was something we were super excited about. Um essentially bringing uh um the um the field trips to the schools um to make sure that every kid um gets a chance to see it. Um it has the wow factor. Um it gets kids excited about learning. Uh so this year we're going to do the same thing. Um, still the wow factor of the gigantic inflatable um, globe. Um, but instead of talking about the stars, um, it's going to be tailored to each grade on um, any of these topics essentially. Um so then in March, sorry um in Thank you. Um in March of last year, um we uh uh we took part in Hill Day with New York State PTA
010and National PTA. Um we were one of u we were three of 44 New York State delegates. We're the only unit that um got to share the story of Gloversville um directly with with law. >> Okay. You want to go back in the chair? Okay. Um so >> Oh, mommy, why don't you sit over here? >> One second, baby. Um so uh this year >> this year um we're going to be going actually down to DC. This was a virtual session. This year they're actually hosting it in DC to meet with with lawmakers face to face. So we're hoping to participate in that as well. So last year, part of our literacy initiative, [clears throat] um we did book bingo, which was um um essentially really easy games of bingo. Um and each of those
011bags had seven to 10 books in them. Um and every child that came got to leave with at least um one bag of books. Um, so any of the leftover books from that event um have been circulated via um either the little libraries or we handed some out at the um at the last uh >> literacy event that the school had hosted. So then >> over 700 books um so this year we're going to be working on um pick a reading partner. So some second baby. So, um some uh some PTAs choose to do um a much smaller um scaled down [clears throat] version of it. Um some go all out. There was one school district that did um a like public transportation theme and like each kid got a metro card and they got
012to bring it. They get to go on the subway every morning and bring their metro card with their log time in the back and but essentially it is a reading initiative that encourages um that encourages families to read together um for 20 to 25 minutes a night. Um so we're looking forward to kind of putting that together for uh towards the middle to end of the year. So, um, we also gave away some community awards, um, this past year. And >> this one's my mama. This is my mama. This mama. >> And then, um, we'll do the next um, and then we're going to do it again this year um, in February. So, um, 2025 ready to go grant. Um that was a grant that we received from national PTA um to run a grant
013or run this program that essentially just talks about um limiting screen time and uh from that we were also gifted 25 laptops that we're able to give out to um kids in the community and a bunch of equipment for us to use as well including computer. Yes. >> Can I go get it, daddy? >> You can come get him if you want. So, Emmy, who's this? Who's that? >> Me. So, >> that was >> Did you have fun making your own stuffed animal? >> Yeah. >> That was one. >> That was Evelyn. >> I won. >> Yeah. Did you have fun? >> I want this one. >> Yes. Um, so, so the, uh, the Animal Land event, um, it's a family event for all ages. Um, >> that's me. >> That's you. Um, and, uh,
014uh, essentially, um, it's Build-A-Bear essentially. Um, and, uh, if you were there last year, um, it was, um, I think we've had pretty much every elementary family there. Um, It was kind of chaos. >> Um but essentially the uh you go you stuffed your animal. Um or you could bring your own animal. You didn't have to buy one. Um and then you kind of went around to each station. So they um they got to go to the pet store. They got to go to the vet. They got to go to the groomer. Um and gave me little carriers for their pets. >> Yes. And all sorts of fun stuff. So the next slide um So, we're going to do it again this year. Um, but we kind of learned from last year. Uh, so we're
015going to do sensory hour. Um, and then we're going to do building specific time slots. Um, because like I said, we had a line out the door pretty much the entire the entire time. It was um was a little overwhelming. So, to round out the year, um, we did color run um, which if you're not familiar, uh, it's just just used to get really dirty um as a family. Uh it's it was our >> sister that >> Yes. Um so >> you got to run. >> This was ice cream truck. >> Yes. >> So again, family for all ages. We're bringing not just um school age kids, but the ones that are not quite in school yet. um to uh uh kind of meet all the staff, some volunteers. Um it's a big community event.
016Uh and we're looking to round out our year again with color run. This is a bunch of fun. Um but we're going to have more color again this year. So if anybody wants to throw color this year, >> let us know. >> Um >> [clears throat] >> Um, and again, it's uh families coming together. Um, >> and we're going to do it again this year. >> We had a really good time. >> Donuts and ice cream. And he got to get messy. >> And he got to get messy. >> Mom, bring me. >> One second, baby girl. So, um, to close it out, um, besides all of the services that we do throughout the year, um, You'll still see us around volunteering and supporting all the school um um growing the bond between uh school
017and PTA um and of course showing love to our staff um who support our children every day. >> My mom's wearing that dress. >> Um so if you're interested in becoming a member, um you can use this little QR code. Um you can come to any of our meetings. Um everybody's welcome. You don't have to be a member. And our next meeting is on Wednesday. >> Yes, our next meeting is on Wednesday at Boulevard um at 4 o'clock. And then um thanks. >> And if nobody has any questions, I'm going to go put these kids to bed. >> Any questions or >> I want to say you guys, I love what the PTA's been doing the last few years under the leadership team that you have. you really do a great job combining fun uh
018unique educational opportunities, really promoting community and [clears throat] uh and literacy. So, I that's it's perfect for our school community and appreciate what you and your fellow leadership team have really done with the PTA in recent years. [applause] Sorry about all the chocolate. [laughter] >> Are you at all? >> All right. Next item is public comment. Do we have anybody here for public comment this evening? >> Moving on to board discussion. Uh we have the board meeting minutes from the October 6th meeting. Any questions or concerns on those? Motion to approve those? Kelly seconded by Oh, there's Sharon. All in favor? [clears throat] Anyone have anything else for board discussion? >> One thing I had and I forgot to ask you before the meeting is walking at the high school because the text messages have
019already started. >> Okay. >> I don't blame him. The dark at 4:00. >> All right. Make sure that set up. >> I think it is. >> Okay. I wasn't sure if it was open or not. >> That started today. >> Started today. >> 5:30 to 7:30. >> Thank you. >> What day is it a week, Cody? Thank you. >> All right, I will start sending text messages out. Thank you. >> You know, it's at least Monday, >> right? [laughter] >> Uh if nobody has anything else for board discussion, we'll move on to the superintendent report. >> Okay. Good evening everybody. Um before I start, just want to mention a couple things. We have a number of donations, some of which came pretty late, so they won't be on this agenda, but I wanted to acknowledge
020them anyway. the Knights of Columbus, fourth year in a row that they've donated. And this year is over four dozen coats and snow pants for elementary age students. And we also received an anonymous donation for uh approximately 50 winter jackets for middle school and high school students. So really nice jackets and that's an age group that doesn't always get uh you know thought of when people are donating. So we really appreciate that anonymous donation. Um retirements and acknowledgements. We have uh Beth Schlike on tonight's agenda, a social worker, 12 years with the district, retiring in January. We have Moren Cooper, reading teacher with 26 years of service, and Paul Wilder, mechanic with 30 years. So, we appreciate those three people's many years of service to the district and wish them a long, healthy, happy retirement.
021Um, in my in my travels around the district, I often run into staff members and ask what's going on. Trenda Sweeney, who's here tonight, uh showed me some cool pictures of a trip she made, uh to Africa, hunting trip, pretty jealous. But uh aside from making me jealous, she uh pointed out a couple things that I thought were noteworthy. One of them which told me a story about her son who uh utilizes our city transportation and him and some of his friends are allowed to wait inside the Century Linen laundry mat on North Main. So help the kids get out of the inclement weather and uh you know that's something that I don't think we do enough of probably celebrating those business partners that go above and beyond accommodating our students and she said you
022know his son gets up early goes sees his friends and uh that it's really nice that the business takes care of our kids. So big shout out to Centry Linen for their partnership and looking out for our youth and uh Trenda also told me that uh second year teacher Julia Rober secured a uh $500 educators grant from Broadview. So, uh, congratulations, Julia, and certainly appreciate a second year teacher taking the initiative to do something like that. And I appreciate trying to taking the time to tell me about it. Thank you. Sure. If anybody else has good stories of partnerships and people uh going above and beyond, more than happy to hear and happy to share. Moving on, uh, last week we had our literacy under the lights inaugural event, which turned into literacy on the
023hardwood due to the, uh, change in weather. We had two and a half months [snorts] of drought and we try to plan something outside but lo and behold the foul weather comes. Um it was a I would say successful inaugural event. I want to thank a number of people. Chris Vajeski, the whole administrative team, Courtney Wood, Andrew Donettto, Lehan Hawkins, the Little Huskies organization, our entire Bills and Ground staff, the PTA glove city coalition, Diane Mott and the middle school band, Liz Sterling select choir, our Huskies varsity football team and the girls soccer seniors. Uh Bailey was there and it was uh that team was represented as well. Um, obviously we combined it with the trunk and treat event that the Little Huskies was putting on and uh they did a nice job of telling
024the kids you can't get candy, you go in there and get red, too. So, uh, but so, you know, I think moving forward, we've already put ideas together. Um, because the trunk or treat event, which is a nice next item on this list, the night before here at the high school, had over 700 cars participate. Uh, so the Key Club puts that on and it'd be great if we could somehow marry the two and use maybe the field up here if the weather cooperates and maybe we can really make this a robust event. We gave out hundreds of books. Um, I know the PTA's given out books. We also had many, many books that we were giving out uh from former literacy series that were just in storage trying to flood this our school community
025so parents can read to their children each and every night as Teresa was talking about. next year. May we continue to grow this uh event. Really great seeing our our secondary student athletes reading to our primary age kids. Really brings it full circle what we're trying to accomplish here. They seemed everybody seemed to have a good time. Would have been nice just to see a larger turnout for the reading portion. Any questions on literacy under the lights and our ideas for the future? Certainly receptive to more ideas and if people have other ideas to help grow this event, we're all ears. Okay. Um, on the back of this paper is a draft policy on animals on school grounds. Took a run at it. Uh, we Danielle got Erie does not have a policy, but they've
026sent us some. This is a kind of a combination of a couple different. It does allow animals out of school hours on roadways and sidewalks, but not on our athletic playing fields. Obviously, it's a carry in, carry out. You know, you're supposed to take care of your your dog's waste. Uh and if like they don't, we would reserve the right to uh ban people or animals for whatever reason. Obviously, there's service animals that are exempt from this policy with the proper uh reasons for being on our property. We have therapy dogs across our district, multiple buildings. Uh so those are covered under other policies. But [clears throat] if you would just take a look at this uh when you get a chance and if you have any suggestions or questions, concerns, if you say, "Dave,
027we don't want any animals anytime ever." um then we can do that too. But uh I thought this struck a happy medium, gave people an opportunity to walk in a relatively safe area off school hours um maybe in the weekends, evenings when the weather when it doesn't get dark at 4. And uh if it's something that you support, then we would put it in front of the board for a vote in future meetings. But any questions on I know a couple months ago we talked about this. I told you I'd get the policy in front of you. Any questions or thoughts on this? If I'm moving in the wrong direction, please let me know. >> What Ray used to say, if silence is consent, right? [laughter] >> Uh Chris, you going to strike that up?
028>> Yes. So, we put together a uh PowerPoint presentation um that we're going to try to start sharing with the community more about our uh pending capital project vote, which is set to take place on Tuesday, December 9th, maybe. And so, the committee doesn't have this, but the board has uh copy of this. Teresa, I don't know if you want to have me on my behalf to come to the BTA meeting this week and go through this, answer any questions people might have. So if you have time and uh I'd be happy to come just let me know. So the project overview it obviously we're proposing a capital project. This is the flower that we're proposing. Lovely. [clears throat] Love technology. [clears throat] >> Tuesday, December 9th, 11 to 8. Um obviously this project uh
029it's important to us and obviously we think to the taxpayers that it will have a zero impact on uh our tax. I'll just keep going. Obviously we think it maximizes community benefit. The project uh we are proposing is to improve the safety, efficiency, functionality and experiences for our scholars and staff and as I said at a zero uh cost taxpayers. The total projected cost is roughly $40 million. Um, there you go. You go to the next slide, Chris. Obviously, key highlights. December 9th, zero impact for residents, facility safety improvements districtwide, and a focus on energy efficiency, long-term infrastructure upgrades. You know, you got to take care of your school systems. And a big piece of this project is the middle school roof. This entire roof is off warranty. And that's and people who work here
030will tell you that we're already and have been having issues. Please progress. The project is fully funded through state building aid, capital reserves, and strategic financial planning to ensure no increase on local taxes. I think that's really important. I think this board does a great job, Kathy, uh, in being, uh, fiscally conservative, uh, saving money where and when we can to ensure that when projects come up and opportunities maybe to enhance our offerings to the school and to the community that it will be done at no increase to our local tax base. Complete replacement of middle school roof that I mentioned will ensure building integrity, improve safety, efficiency, and protect infrastructural spaces from leaks and damage. Pretty obvious, right? Somebody I know just had a roof a tree fall on their house Friday night. They
031have three holes in their roof and uh it's pretty important that they get that roof fixed really quickly. So, um middle school's not going to have any trees fall on it. If we do, that's a pretty bad storm. But, uh we do have leaks. It's a large flat roof. We live in the Northeast. Um it's really important that we replace this roof. It's our largest building. Outdated heating systems will be replaced as well. energy efficient boilers improving building comfort, reliability, and operational cost savings all across the district in multiple buildings. Go ahead. The new secure entryway uh for our district office. We did pull that out of the last project was finding areas that we had to contract in order to expand in other areas. So we pulled the secure vestibule out of this office
032and it's not really fair to the people who work on this floor because we get a a large amount of visitors uh because this is where registars's offices, special education, obviously the business office, new employees or potential prospective employees, taxpayers, uh retirees. We get a lot of visitors to this floor and it makes sense that we do what we uh to ensure the safety of this floor because obviously you can access the students upstairs from this area as well. Boulevard. Uh new main entrance by the bus zone to improve traffic flow. That area, that atrium, that uh A-frame atrium is just a a tripping hazard. Well, a slip hazard mostly in the winter time. If you know that right now there's a large sun, uh or it's almost like a greenhouse. It heats up a
033lot during the warm weather and during the winter it comes down here and freezes on the current A-frame and the water drips down and creates a real slip zone where kids are coming right out to the bus. This new design will address that. It'll also prevent those teenagers who want to be uh the next uh mountaineer to be able to climb up onto the roof. We've had kids access our roof uh from that area with the design. This will prevent that from being able to happen. And you will still have some natural light, but it won't be uh built like a sun room. Should be nice. Also, uh let's just just mention that Husky Stadium upgrades. This is a pretty uh cool piece of this project that we hope to be able to uh bring
034to this community. A new synthetic turf field at Husky Stadium would serve as a premier athletic venue for baseball and football and also serve any number of uh organizations. uh once upon a time when we had a color guard competition on Husky. That's something that maybe we can increase uh bring in uh student athletes and student performers from across the region across the country. That one brought in from across the country. Uh currently we do graduation and varsity football games and some modified games on that field for football and obviously the baseball varsity baseball. the amount of money that goes into maintaining that every year. We have to do roughly this half the cost anyway because the drainage is shot on that current field. If you go down the ground level, you can look at
035the other end zone, you'll just see somebody from the waist up. That's how much the ground is moved. So the substrate, the sub material underneath has to get removed anyway to get redone. So this additional cost which is covered in the project if we turf that whole thing it makes that facility uh usable as long as the snow's not on it by any organization by any teams. So modified can practice and play there. Little Huskys could play there much more than they uh currently do. And obviously the varsity team could practice on the field that they would compete on on a daily basis. So we think that's a a great opportunity for our city for our community. And here's artist rendition of what we're talking about. that whole area, the baseball field and the football
036field. Uh it would be lined with those two sports. The uh field up here, the turf field serves field hockey, girls and boys soccer and softball. So these other two varsity sports would be served and you can use uh a certain type of paint. So if you wanted to host a game here of a different sport, you can paint the field and it would wash off of the first rainfall. Couple other big things in park terrace as well. This area here that we proposed to build a separate parking lot area as everybody knows for graduation, football games, the parking is not ideal for this stadium. If we were able to create a separate entrance that didn't take you up by the school and a large parking facility right here and better student drop off, safer
037for parent drop off. This is the current bus loop right here. Uh you'd have a safer parent drop off right here. you'd have staff parking down here uh during school day and also be usable for event uh graduation, football, baseball games, etc. whatever we want to do. So, pretty exciting. That's the largest uh most obvious piece of this project. A lot of the other stuff is functionalities, things in uh utility spaces and roofs and and boiler rooms. So, there's not a lot of wow factor in this project outside of this field. Um, but seems like a great opportunity to do it with zero impacts on the tax base. Community benefits, enhanced safety for scholar staff, improved energy efficiency, sustainability, expanded opportunities for athletics, community engagement, and protecting our investments in all district facilities. So, we
038think we have a a good rationale for what we're proposing to the school community, and we hope they support it. Is there anything uh is there anything the board would like to add to this project or any questions about what I just presented? So, I'm going on to talk to the town the next few weeks. Me and Jason Schuik have been uh chatting back and forth. So, it gives an opportunity for taxpayers to ask questions. We will get this um presentation up on our our Facebook page and our school district website. We'll create a project uh tab if there's not one already. Is there one already? >> There isn't one yet. Okay. So, we'll tab up on there and we will make sure we'll get it out on uh parent square as well. Try to
039get this project that we're proposing in everybody's hands and answer any questions people might have. So, any questions on the proposed capital project again December 9th, Bleecker Town Hall as well as a high school gymnasium. All right. Um, couple things. Boulevard cleanout. uh second time in 5 years. We filled two dumpsters last week. I worked with the B&G staff for about one and a half days last week. I'm sure they're happy not to see me today. Uh but I enjoyed working alongside the grounds crew. And uh it's good that I was there because I think the reason we end up with a lot of excess material, people don't want to throw it out. It's not that I do, but somewhere along the way, somebody's got to make a decision. And uh some anything that was
040broken, busted, you got bookshelves with uh splinter hazard. I can see why they're taking out of circulation and uh it's just filling up that basement. So, we're probably going to be filling up more dumpsters over there. And my hope is to create a space where the elementary K5 literacy, we're going to build shelves, everything that they're using and plan to use, whether it's little free libraries, this new CKLA series, um other supplemental materials, those are in spaces that the K5 people know exactly where they are rather than scattergun approach all over the two separate basement areas. Music would get an area, drama would get an area, each elementary school would get an area. Obviously, building grounds uh needs the most area because they have the large uh supplies of stuff. And um you know, it'
041be great if we could come up with a way to sell uh supplies, but again, it's I mean, everybody's busy. I don't know. Bill Cooper's always advocated for a class to do it. It sounds great. I do support it. Just something we have not gotten off the ground yet. need to have [clears throat] a class of kids go in there, take photographs, uh explain what the materials are, the equipment, and sell them on on some kind of Craigslist or eBay. That would be ideal. But in short term, we've reached out to uh other schools, private schools to see if they want some of our outdated literacy materials, u chairs, desks, but most of the stuff we're accessing has been used in service a long time, and it's it's it's going to end up in the
042in Borance or in the county waste fac. this next uh >> club take I'm sorry could one of the clubs take that on >> I don't know which club it would fit under right now um it's honestly right now it's such a mess it's just been haphazard I'm not trying to point the finger at anybody I'll take responsibility for why it's a mess but it's a mess people come down they just put stuff there about it some tag left on it it's just it's so haphazard maybe I'm ac more I ever thought I was, but I want to clean. I want to organize and make sure we know where everything is and each unit. I don't think the secondary buildings need to use that facility at all. This is truly just a Kingsboro and Boulevard
043primarily because Park Terrace does have their own basement where they can probably store stuff. So, Kingsboro does not. They have a crawl [snorts] space. So, they do not have any storage at Kings. And uh you know, we have five pianos out of service. Five pianos. So, I ask the music folks, go down, please. Uh, keep money. Let's get rid of the other four. I mean, they're literally never going to be used. They're going to collect mold. Um, I want to get things off the ground. Old books. It's too bad throwing out books. And we are doing our best to keep as many as we can, but we are some of those old leveled readers. There's only so much he can hold on to. So, um, yeah, I don't like throwing out anything that could be
044of value to somebody, especially books. [snorts] But, uh, I think we've done a good job of trying to prioritize and save everything we can as far as, uh, literature and we're trying to give it out. We're trying to put it in the hands of parents. Uh, we're really forcing it on people at the literacy under the lights event, and we hope that we have enough still saved that we can do that for four or five years without bringing any [snorts] more into uh, the collection. So, it's a good endeavor. It's time well spent. And uh this next bullet you can see is high school desk replacement. In the [snorts] last budget, we set a uh a priority to replace 30 classroom sets in our high school. Some of those chairs were there when I was
045here 30 some odd years ago. Um that was kind of surprising to me that I mean that's that's getting your money's worth. So we're going to replace 30 high school sets and those chairs I do not want stacked half passively in Boulevard. We'll keep a fraction of them if they're in good shape. my guess is whatever is in those 30 classrooms. There's other classrooms that could use the best that they got. Maybe Mr. Headwell is all over that. I don't know. I haven't really talked to him about that. He's already thinking ahead on it. But uh we will be accessing whatever comes to us and whatever's done build grounds going to uh take those aborts. They do get some kind of uh poundage for and we money in return for that. Any questions about what
046I've just covered about the furniture replacement or disposal? It's also it. We have VCRs and VCR tapes. We have TVs with a rapid strap over the top. We have overhead transparencies machines. Trenda wants those. >> I got one overhead transparency machine. >> So, my biggest thing I guess um is is there any way we could take an inventory of what we have? We do have a great amount of teachers that are looking for their classrooms and we just were under the understanding that there was nothing available to us. So if we could have some kind of inventory whenever they start to organize instead of selling off let's try to give our teachers some things that they might be able to utilize out of that >> 100% [snorts] I did ask the elementary administration uh to
047make sure our staff knew that uh I think I set an arbitrary date of mid November. or I forget what date it was, but if you or any of your colleagues want to do go on a tour, I'd be more than happy to meet you there uh after school and and uh if you want something that's great, you know, let us know. I just don't want to earmark say, "Hey, don't get rid of this because I might take this in five years." >> I know. And that's why I said we should have just had, you know, a roundabout inventory of something at least then they knew [snorts] if you had something they were looking for. It's so hard because when you throw it out there, well, if you need anything, let us know. They're like,
048"Well, do you have this? you have that. >> So [snorts] my hope is first of all even right now as much of a mess as it is I will meet anybody down there who is interested to see what we have. There's filing cabinets, there's desks, there's chairs, there's the most of the AV equipment is very outdated. Um [clears throat] but as I said, I mean there's books, there's there's level readers from previous series that a teacher might say, I love that book and kids really enjoyed that. So, I'll we have an admin meeting tomorrow morning and uh we'll talk to the elementary team about maybe creating a structure or opportunity for teachers who were interested in seeing what we have to get down there before we toss anything else out. >> Thank you. >> You're
049welcome. Early CTE discussion. Last week, Chris and I and Christine Elias met with our counterparts in Johntown as well as Bosey's administration to talk about an early CTE program. when the board had a retreat in September, that was a pretty clear directive to me to try to create an early career tech education opportunity. Um, conversation starting. Other districts are interested. Amsterdam, Mayfield, and OSJ have all voiced interest. Um, we're looking at a 910. We we're going to try to at Mo and be housed at Miko. We're going to try to get off the ground for September 26. Still a ton of work to do. Um, but I think we got the right people in the room right now. We meet again on November 17th at Miko. Some of the people have never seen that facility.
050It's ready to go. That building is nice and clean and painted and there is a little bit of roof work in this project. One area that still needs to get done, but that building the CO is current. Uh the kitchen might need a little bit of upgrades because we because it's been closed, we have been pilfering some some uh kitchen equipment to back fill other buildings that are currently serving kids food. Um, so we would have to take a look at that. But all in all, it's got a new vestule, new office, that building is ready to go. And if we can get uh a ninth and tth grade regional early CTE program off the ground there, I think it's a win >> win for everybody. And just want to turn over to uh close
051out my report to Chris and the board members that attended the NISMBA convention in New York City. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Dave. So on the 23rd and 24th of October, Rob, Sharon, Kelly, and I were able to spend a couple of days at the NISMBA convention in Manhattan. Had a great time, shared some many laughs, actually many, many laughs, and uh some [snorts] great stories, a lot of good food. But uh when we got there on Thursday, the session that we wanted to attend was already closed out, unfortunately. But uh on Friday, we were able to attend many productive sessions. Um just a few that I wanted to highlight quickly. um that there were a few sessions, not as many as I expected, but a few sessions on AI and actually Rob Sharon and I
052attended one. It wasn't the the most engaging presentation by any means, but there were a couple of good takeaways and one that I brought back to our admin team is that the the two principles who reported, one from New York City Schools, the other from Buffalo, they've developed some protocols and procedures and policies in their district as a result of their passion for AI. And one of the the key pieces of information they've used is a guide book that Chicago public schools has implemented and that's sort of the standard barrier right now in the country for what AI can can bring for our students as well as our faculty and staff. So, um, we've begun to utilize some of that with with the use of of AI, which at GPT, um, being able to outline
053some of the the necessary elements of a policy that we can create again for use for not only our faculty and staff, but for our scholars. And one of the key points that the presenters made was that having a a pretty comprehensive but concise and easily understood policy can help us with privacy matters can also help us with the necessary professional developments that's needed to to really get this off the ground in a full-fledged notion that can benefit our students and their achievement moving forward. So again, while it wasn't the most engaging presentation, I think there were some some key takeaways there. And one of their recommendations was to establish an AI committee which we've already done. We've had two meetings thus far. We established that back in September and we had another meeting um
054last week and we've begun to to look at some policy and some ways that we can provide that training that's necessary to our faculty and staff. One of the other presentations that I saw that was of note um we looked at u some performance project based learning opportunities in having that in collaboration with some community partners and this allows students to really have an end product that then benefits their community. So um I think some of the examples uh gez let's see there was a farm-to-table option in which the students were able to provide food to the school cafeterias from food that they had grown any remaining items produce were then in the local co-op. Obviously we have a local co-op here in the city that we might be able to do some partnership with
055in those regards. Um there was also a student committee that was partnering with their local department of public works to prioritize work that needed to be done in the city of I think it was falls. So um that's a great opportunity for the students to to work with some folks who they might be able to to partner with and be employed with in the future in their post-secary lives. And what was the other? Oh, there was also a piece in which some students were providing a communication some some similar elements to what Andrew does in a communication specialist for a local hospital in the Hudson Valley [clears throat] and they were um you know having social media posts and and students were were doing a work study so to speak with the local hospital. So
056I thought that was that was noteworthy and again the the notion of performance-based learning will only ramp up with the portrait of a graduate. So, how do we then provide some opportunities for our students to embed those end products into our our local community? And the last one that I wanted to speak about was uh just nothing really novel but Salman Manka school district which is I believe about an hour south of Buffalo. [snorts] They did some surveys of students and they take personality surveys and focusing the the programs on students temperament whether they're an introvert and extrovert providing student choice. some of the things that they learned from the data they collected um then can help help students to overcome sort of some of their anxiety disorders and some of the challenges that they
057face on a regular basis. So that was certainly three of note. I don't know if there are any ones that you wanted to share. Sharon, Rob, Kelly, >> I went to the one from our city tutors. >> That's right. We've we've considered partnering with them. >> Yeah. Their AI chatbot built into that for students. That seemed promising. I mean, woman who hosted it found out hour before the meeting that she had to give the presentation because the other person wasn't there. >> So, that was nice. >> It was nice. I mean, she did a good job using AI to build her slide deck. So, I thought it was pretty good. I mean, if that's something we're using, I thought the AI chatbot integration into it was pretty good. Uh, it was a learning model. So,
058the more the student interact with it, the more tailored the responses to help with the differentiated learning. >> Definitely a great feature. >> We met with them twice here on site. Uh, and I think it's the largest uh tutoring platform in the country millions of kids. Uh, Florida in particular had a lot of success. I know the Fairfax County, Virginia, a lot of those county schools in the south utilize the program. So, we're talking about sticking our toe in the water, seeing how it works with some of their smaller populations and then going from there. The keynote uh speaker was um Tim Shrivever of the Kennedy family and uh he um has developed something called the dignity index which in the political climate that our country is in I think we have to be very
059aware that our children are listening and how we how we communicate in terms of uh conversations that we may not agree on. You know, there's there's a level of dignity where at the at the lowest level where you are totally intolerant and there's levels to go up where you are um showing showing another person their value and listening to them. Um and there's a youth version of that survey that can be implemented in schools so that students can respect one another, can disagree and can can grow from one another. So I I found that very interesting. Um, the other thing that I found very interesting and very concerning is uh the concerns about social media and how predators can take profiles of students and actually use those profiles to um to uh they take their
060personalities and they and they put them in positions where they can extort money from them. Um they threaten them. and they threaten to release rumors, um, pictures that they may get. So, I'm I'm hoping that in some way we're educating our students of the dangers, I guess, out there. Um, in terms of all of the um, social media and other ways of communicating online, >> great point. I'm sure some of our classes do it, [snorts] but it's probably not as uh robust as it can and should be given agreed >> just how prevalent it is. >> Scary stuff. >> Well, sounds like you all had a great trip and appreciate you reporting. >> Just want to thank Danielle for coordinating the accommodations both to travel and lodging. So, great job as always. >> Very nice,
061Danielle. Before I conclude my report, Cody did get back to me uh via text using that technology. Uh and walk in the gym is 5:30 to [snorts] 7:30 Monday through Thursday. Uh is there any requirements for folks uh that we need to get out there at the front door? >> Okay, that concludes my report. I will need executive session to talk about personnel and contract negotiations. All right, any questions? All right, next item. We have a report from our director of student support services. [clears throat] >> Got a flicker, too. I'm going I'm going high. >> Well, thanks for having me here this evening, you guys. It was just about a year ago um that I came to my first Weversville and large school district board of education meeting and I was sitting on the
062other side um waiting for my board appointment. So I'm I'm excited to be here almost a year in a little short from that. I'm Sarah Matarazzo. I'm the director for student support services. Our two assistant directors are here with us this evening. Jody Hair and um Kristen Thompson who you of course I'm sure remember from Kingsboro. Um, I want to just start by letting everybody know like this is really where we're coming from as a department. Um, we're here for scholar support. We're here for faculty and staff support, parent support, and administrative support. So, um, to that end, we've restructured a little bit. The department was previously structured. We had an elementary sort of person that took care of things and and a secondary um, assistant director. So right now the three of us are
063really jumping in and tackling all levels um all hands on deck. Um and some days it feels a little harried but we uh have already received great feedback from our administrators um and teachers that they feel that that the level of support for staff and faculty students has um that they've seen an improvement. So that's where we're coming from. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the goals that we're working through [clears throat] this school year. Oh, I forgot to mention that this picture is Mrs. Hughes class. This one, this one's Mrs. Hughes class at Kingsboro. It was actually her first graders last year. Um, and you recognize some of our football players. Um, so our first goal, and these all three of our department goals relate to the district rules, um,
064as well, is to strengthen staff knowledge and skill uh, through collaboration and coaching um, and professional development. So, we're working on a couple of different areas. Um, we feel that our our population continues to to be more and more challenging. Um, and as such, we need to grow the capacity of our teachers and our staff um in order to meet those challenges. The um the difficulties, the disabilities that our students and scholars are coming in with um aren't the same as they may have been 20 years ago. So, we're working to um grow those staff um strengths. And we're working on things such as specially designed instruction, which is really the meat and potatoes of special education. Um explicit instruction, which is a uh proven model that works with students from all backgrounds and disabilities.
065Um as well as uh some more specialized professional development focusing on behavior and working with students on the autism spectrum. So um our expected impact this this really supports our overall district improvement goal. Um if if the special ed students are succeeding then everybody is succeeding. So um this is going to help us support those diverse learners across the settings in all the buildings. Um our second department goal is to ensure curriculum access uh and in our special classes. Um this really came out of of some of the data from New York State on our three through eight and um high school regent exams and graduation rates um that our special education students really weren't meeting the state targets in terms of proficiency on testing. So we feel that this is an area that um
066really needs to have that curriculum alignment. Um our teachers are working with um Christine Elias with content area teachers and our special educators at all grade levels are working with grade level curriculum now and that is um that's a new expectation for a lot of our staff. Um and it's not an easy lift. So um we we we we get a lot of questions about how that's supposed to look in different classes. Um, but our staff is doing a great job of rising to the occasion. Um, and I'll also mention here that part of that curriculum alignment is also um focusing on work-based learning and transition um into adulthood or transition into post-secary life. Right now we have about 37 scholars working um in workbased learning through HFM Boseis. So that's a number that we
067can continue to expect to grow uh especially as we move through the changes that the portrait of a graduate is going to bring to to the secondary levels. Um and we do expect this to to show uh the work that we're doing here. We expect it to show in our graduation rates and our three through eight and regions exam proficiency rates. Our third goal um is to uh build capacity in analyzing and using data to support instruction. So, this is something that secondary teachers are working on in conjunction with their content areas. Uh, with Christine Elias, they're doing data data cycles with Jay Jerbeck. Um, and really diving into what's working and what's not working in the classroom. Um, our elementary groups uh have been doing this work in a number of different ways. And
068so, their um chunk of this goal, if you will, is a little bit different. They're working on um progress monitoring individual IEP goals, but still focusing on that uh on that data piece to help us um give more precise instruction and uh measurable progress that that we'll see in student outcomes. Um, we also anticipate that using these data cycles will help us um improve our relationships with families because we'll be able to be really specific about what's working and what's not working for scholars. Moving along, um, a lot of the mental energy that I expend in this role is dealing with the New York State Education Department. Um um we have a couple of uh three large uh tasks throughout this school year that we'll be working uh with. So we are currently doing uh
069suspension corrective action plan based on our 2425 suspension data. Um and the documentation review. Um we are undergoing some additional training and shoring up some internal policies and and procedures to in that capacity. Um, a lot of paperwork involved, a lot of back and forth and a lot of collaboration between the building principles in our office. Um, SEQA is the special education quality assurance program. Um, and we are working with what's called um the regional partnership to improve our state performance indicators. That's that three through eight testing and regions exam testing uh proficiency rates again. and that's where they're helping us to focus on explicit instruction coaching and offering some professional development. So actually um their representative will be here tomorrow doing some observations uh to start some coaching cycles with middle school teachers. So
070this uh particular uh initiative with New York State Education Department is focusing on the middle school uh direct consultant teacher models um in grades six through eight. So it's a pretty uh you know finite um group of people that are going to be participating in that. But we're hoping that the work that comes out of it will be able to be scaled up and down. Um, the last piece uh from the state ed department that's um sort of taking up a lot of my time is this SP8. SP as a special educator, we love acronyms. So, I'm just going to throw alphabet soup at you all day. Um, SP is the state performance plan. And so, number eight is a parent involvement survey. Um, we are going to be required to have a certain percentage
071of surveys filled out and completed and returned to the district. um by August of 26 and then uh we get graded uh not just the uh grade so to speak um on what the parents say in the survey but also the percentage of them that return it. So, uh, we have established last spring, I worked with, um, for the with this I worked last spring with the special education quality assurance people to create an action plan on how we're going to get all these surveys returned and hopefully have some positive feedback with families. So, by the numbers, um, currently, and this these numbers change every day. So right now we have um 416 cse scholars who attend programs um in our district. We have an additional 57 scholars who attend Bosey's program that's HFM Boseies
072Questar Boseies Capitol Region Boseies and also the um Hamilton Herkimer Herkimer Hamilton um I'm not sure what they call themselves but they're out they're a little farther west from us. Um and then 17 scholars who are in outofd district places place placements those are private placements um that offer uh day treatment programs. Um this little pink tiny tiny sliver are students who are in residential programming. Um and then our CPSE those are our preschoolers. So there's currently 68 uh two and a half to to to preschool. They're they can start anywhere around two and a half with early intervention. Um because we need to identify them by the time they turn three. So they are started get into our system a little bit before their third birthday. So that number is currently at 68. Just
073for reference, last year our um CPSCE numbers were reported um in November by Nikki Morton as 48. So 20 more this year. Um and and to that end, you know, we we've um have a part-time CPSC chairperson Dr. Kelly Sport who's been working with our preschool families. Um that's been a huge help. Um she's also doing a lot of the evaluations for them since she's a school psychologist. So um that CPSE number is a 41% increase. Um and and just so everybody's clear, when you identify a a preschooler, it's really by the numbers. There's they need to fall two standard deviations below the mean. It's a really quick yes or no. Do they fall two standard deviations below the mean? Then they qualify. And if they then they don't, then then they don't qualify. So,
074we're not um overqualifying little little ones. Um this is just a reminder of our continuum. We did add a new ratio uh for this school year. We have a 1211 continuum uh I'm sorry, a 1212 classroom at Park Terrace. Um, I would say that those may be the most challenging scholars in our district. They are um between the uh kindergarten and second grade age level and um are still working on a lot of communication skills that enable them to be ready to learn. So, we're working on a lot of ready tolearn behaviors in that group. Um and all the rest of them um I I listed there for you uh where they're available, what age levels um but as a as a district this size, it is important that we sort of hit all of
075these different types of services. Um, I think this is a great visual just to see um that that our scholars require all sorts of different types of supports throughout their day. >> Um, uh, another highlight I wanted to make sure everybody was aware of are is our unified sports programs. Um, I'm sure you've seen um some social media posts and some other great celebrations. We have botchi ball now that's newly added this year. Um, bowling team. I just love this. Like how proud is this young guy? Um, we have our basketball team. I believe the botchi ball team uh was just won their championship in their in their zone or their league. Um, the basketball team came in I think first and they're like we have some really successful unified sporting teams and I've been
076talking with Mr. U. Deris to talk about bringing unified physical education to the high school. So um we're really hoping that we can have a section of that class um next school year as well in the high school to continue the partnership between our um special education scholars and um and their gender peers. >> Questions? Sarah, I just want to say that uh you know, special education is is it's it's tough work. It's a lot of moving parts, a lot of paperwork. You're dealing with a lot of emotions with the families. Obviously, the children are challenging. It's not just when they're at school, but they're also challenging at home often. Parents love them. They don't want them in trouble. They don't want them being out of district placements. They don't want them in Bose's program.
077So, it's it's a it's a tough job that you and your counterparts have. Uh and we really appreciate it. But your your focus is absolutely where it needs to be. uh your patient, your surgical and and how you go about trying to affect the changes you're trying to make. So, I appreciate you and and your your counterparts in the office. >> Thank you. >> That's Mel. This Miss Fagel's class [applause] Thank you. >> Next item is student board member report. >> Good evening everyone. Um I want to talk about a few things of the month of October that happened at GHS. I'll try and keep it brief. Um I first wanted to introduce the World Languages Honor Society's first Spanish and Latin which I'm officially a part of as well. They're now officially approved club
078since our um previous board meeting. And we also represented them at that Mr. Holland previously mentioned, myself and Isabelle Lamontto represented the Latin um trunk and then a majority of the Spanish flag class represented the Spanish um honor society. So I just wanted to recognize them. Um and then going into the annual trunk retreat hosted by Key Club which was the 29th um at Gloversville. It was a great turnaround as Mr. Hollowman previously mentioned. Um, and I also wanted to highlight as the president that we also celebrated 75 years of the trick or treat with the United Nations Children Fund, which is an organization that works to protect the rights to provide aid aid aids such as emergency relief, um, health, education, and clean water to children and families who experience poverty. So, children kind
079of help children, basically people that are impoverished in other countries due to World War II. It's kind of an ongoing thing. and they have orange packages that they send out and it's just like children helping children which is very nice to um see. And now going into senior nights of the month of October, we celebrated four seniors for girls swimming on the 21st and then 12 varsity football players and six volleyball players on the 24th of October. Um I wanted to congratulate that volleyball team for their season and also wish the girls swimming good luck at sectionals this Saturday on the 8th and then our boys football team who plays this Friday against Johnson which I know everyone's very excited about. And I also wanted to mention our literacy on the hardwood event hosted by
080our district which Mr. H already mentioned as well. Um partnership with little huskies trunk or tree at park terrace. That was very good turnout. I also participated like he said. Um I think that even we can keep this uh event going annually and even further strengthen our literacy initiative by maybe doing it each semester. So, we had spring sports coming in and the athletes that are kind of in that section because I don't think that it was a very widespread message to the high school students to get involved and that's why I mean it was only the football team and then just three soccer girls that heard about it. So, I think if we can kind of get that initiative going a little bit better, it'd be it'd be a lot better to promote the
081the on andoff field um to have that continued success with the event. So, and then I also lastly just wanted to talk about some senior specific events that are kind of approaching. So, we got the paint uh senior parking spot paint approved um which is a very exciting event for the senior class. And it's also going to be a fundraiser which requires uh each student to spend $20 to pay for their parking spot. Um that's going to be November 8th, which is this upcoming Saturday. So, we're very excited to introduce that new tradition at Spellville. And then lastly, I just wanted to mention the senior privileges that were put in place at five weeks, which I'm very excited about, and I know we're all very appreciative of those privileges. That's all I have for you
082guys. Kind of short and sweet. >> Thank you. >> Sorry I stole some of your starting stuff. I was like, "Okay, >> I know. We should have her go first." >> I agree. [laughter] >> Gravity's a spice of life. >> Nice job. >> What are the senior privileges now? You still leave the building. >> Yeah, leave the building. You have a senior lounge as well. lobby. So we can use those as well as our phones kind of breaking that safe [laughter] to ask for information. [laughter] >> All right. Anybody have any other questions? All right. We'll move on to our recommended items. We have 8.01 01 through 17.24. Anybody need anything called or questions, comments on any of those? Motion to approve all those by Mike. Seconded by Sharon. All in favor of those. All
083right. And then motion to go into executive discussion to discuss the personnel history and a contract item. Motion by John, seconded by Rob. All in favor of that. Thank you. And there'll be no action taken afterwards. Have a wonderful evening, everyone.