001Yes. Roughly >> ready. >> All right. Action. All right. Thanks everyone for coming. Please rise for the pledge. Pledge >> algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> All right, standing. We have to do the OPA office for our student board member and our student and our alternate student board member. >> Yes. >> So, we'll do the student board member first. Oh, make sure you put her on camera on me. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear or affirm >> I doly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America >>
002and the Constitution of the State of New York >> and the Constitution of the State of New York >> and that I will faithfully discharge >> that I faithfully discharge >> according to the best of my ability >> the duties of the position of >> the duties of the position >> board member to which I now assigned >> alternate student board member to which I am now. >> All right. Thank you very much. You have a speech or something? No. >> Did you sign Just make sure you sign your card. >> Chicken wings. >> I already mentioned that. Oh, did you? >> Yeah. I'm said we're like all We're like one for 10. >> Gentlemen, just make sure you sign. >> My first board meeting is the only time we ever had wings. >> I
003said we're like one for 10. >> All right. So, thank you both for coming. Welcome aboard. >> Nice to meet you. >> Um, all right, we'll move on. We have a couple of presentations tonight. Uh, first is going to be for a new club on the Olympics of Visual Arts. >> Turn it over to staff to say, >> do all board members have access to the PowerPoint that was that we prepared? the handout. >> I can't get anything right now, but that's a problem. >> Oh, this one. Yes, I do. Here we go. >> Do you have a slide? >> Unless you want to. >> Do you want a project? >> Yes, please. We don't mind. Is that okay if you have >> charge extra? Go ahead. >> Do you guys have a copy of
004the presentation? >> Yes, they all have a copy of We have a paper, >> but you do not have a copy to Correct. >> We don't have a digital copy. Do you have a dig? >> May I have a so you're looking at mind? >> I'll show Kevin. >> Thank you so much. >> I'm a nice guy. >> Hey. Well, I'm Lisa Guda. It's nice to meet you guys. I'm the elementary art teacher down at Boulevard and we wanted to discuss the Olympics of visual arts. It's a program I've been doing now for five years and it's something that I'm really passionate about and it's literally the most exciting part of my year every year. Um, and also Bailey's done it. So, and B Majeski also did it too. So, we do have some people
005that might be familiar on the board about it. Um, so OVA, short for Olympics visual arts. It's been going on for 44 years now. It's a program uh put on by NASA, which is the New York State Teachers Art Association. And the easiest way to kind of think about this is comparing it to Odyssey of the Mind. Uh that's a program that's been at Gloversville for quite some time, although we're not sure if it's still going on. Um but the premise of OVA is that there's a long-term uh problem which kids work in groups, usually around five to eight. They can work in groups of one if they wanted. And they have a longterm design solution that they have to address. And it's not just a matter of drawing a They need to provide research,
006a portfolio. Um, there has to be brainstorming. There has to be some cultural and historical relevance. There has to be an artist statement. So, there's a lot that goes into the long-term solution. It usually takes a few months for the kids in the groups to work on. Then, there is also an ondemand challenge that takes place at the event which is always held in Saratoga uh usually around April. And again the the premise of the project is always collaboration, creativity and uh student interaction. So the purpose of OVA I mean aside from making some beautiful artwork the creative problem solving visual arts as an essential uh discipline contemporary cultural historical references uh refining brainstorming research and media art standards but there's also other skills that kind of go beyond the art subject literacy because like
007I mentioned there has to be research that goes behind it reading they have to create their own artist statements there has to be problem solving and creative thinking which goes into sort of that opening uh AI presentation we saw on day one where we're looking for a full citizen right that has these higher level thinking and outside the box problem solving they have to create a portfolio and again have that historical and cultural awareness um so over the last five years I've kind of started OVA in this district five years ago and originally everything was out of my pocket the registration fees, the team fees, the t-shirts, the supplies, everything was out of pocket just because it was something I was really passionate about. Uh over the last five years, the middle school and high
008school have also tacked on and we have kind of peacemealed little like we got buildings to pay for our t-shirts and we were fortunate enough to get uh the registration fees paid the last two years, but we are still paying membership fees out of pocket and the middle and high school don't get any pay for their afterchool time when it comes to working with the kids after school. So pretty much our thesis for this presentation is that we're hoping for financial support from the board and from the district to help us grow this program because we've had a lot of success. Um me myself we've won five well we've won five out of our five years for illustration when it comes to um the creative problem solving and we've also received the Heidman creativity award
009and then last year our digital media team also at the middle school got the Himman creativity award and then the painting team at the high school also got first place for painting. So when it comes to arts in this statewide competition, we've had success and the kids really really enjoy it and it becomes a source of I mean they become a real team and you you can see the excitement in their faces. So, we do have pictures so you can see like genuine excitement and like and some of the artwork that goes into it and a lot of the again we mentioned some of the skills and I won't go through all my accolades on my page about my teams but you can see like the success I've had at Boulevard. It started with one
010team. Last year I had three. So, I'm really hoping to grow the program at my level and hoping to funnel it to the middle school so they can continue growing it, which would go to the high school for them to continue because it's really an amazing program, but can lead to bigger and more exciting things beyond Glover'sville. So, I'll pass it on to April if she would like to. Um, I'm April Meer. I'm one of the art teachers at the middle school. Last year was my first year doing it and I did a um digital art program with the students, but that's just one of the problems. There are many others, painting, photography. Um, students can really pick which theme they like and roll with it. Um, I think that this program really parallels what
011the district is trying to do to get kids to critically think and problem solve and think of a whole problem. Project based learning in general, they get a visual problem and they have to solve it visually. Uh, my kids had a marketing problem. So, they got a makeleaf company and they had a new product and they had to from start to finish market create logos, product information, they created a video. Um, all skills they didn't know which they researched themselves and it's all driven by the students. They do everything themselves. We are there to support and teach skills. All the ideas are theirs. All the products are theirs. So, it's they're proud of themselves and they always want to do it again. So, I'll pass it on to the high school. >> So, hi, I'm
012Janelle Krauss. I am one of the high high school art teachers and last year um we as uh Lisa said we did the painting category for the high school grade level and we did win first place. Um and as both of them said the kids love it year after year. uh at the high school last year's problem was to create a dipic to paintings. And so in that we're drawing on our historical references and learning about that, learning how to analyze um our historical pieces for relevant information that will help us in our current situations and problem solving. Also learning how to think abstractly, like how do you convey emotion through color, these more abstract concepts they don't get in most of their school days. Um, we've I think all the majority of the team
013members that I've had last year have wanted to do it year after year after year. I know you're a busy senior, but let's have back this year. Um, and like I said, like they both said, um, there are multiple categories. I usually specialize or I like painting because it's my favorite, but it is student driven. So, whatever category the students want to pick, they can. But it is a lot of time and resources. I had students living in my classroom for most of the day and during academic support. Any hour they could get to work on the pieces, they wanted to be there. They wanted to stay after school and work with each other and work as a team to figure out how to proceed and how to really fine-tune their work. So, the dedication
014is fantastic. >> Thank you for your time. I don't know if you have any questions or if there's anything else we can expand on. Trying to make it concise and How many students are you expecting between all grade levels? >> Um at the elementary level last year I had an illustration team which has six kids, a painting team which had five and then a one a person of well one person do the drawing team. Um I mean it kind of varies year to year but again that's about what I'm looking about 20some altogether amongst my three teams. in middle school. It was my first year doing it. So, the students didn't really know what to expect. They hadn't had digital art before. Um, now that I have a whole like cohort of kids that do
015understand, I would probably have two to three teams of about five kids. >> And last year at the high school, I had a larger team because of the various responsibilities the kids have as they get older, jobs, taking care of the siblings and whatnot. Um, and so my team last year, I think was around 10 kids. In the past sometimes when we first started it was about five kids and it's grown. So yeah about 10 10 kids last year. >> Does the membership fee cover the entire school of $60? That's that's good for that is >> Sorry. Go ahead. >> Um the membership fee is actually um each of us are required to have a nice membership. Y >> so that's that fee and then below that the fee structure is um what you have
016what the district has been paying for us to participate in this actual program. Um so what last year we had three four five teams the most >> so it includes all teams though that membership >> like 300 plus the 300 for 11 plus but that includeal info concept of attendance of the students who are involved in the program they show up to school so they can participate. Is it a hook >> for my group? Yes. >> For some of my like I give my kids a stipulation of need to be passing their classes in order to be a part of this. >> Good. >> I mean my kiddo is like yes but it's a little less of a variable at my age range. Are the current materials used uh embedded within the materials for do
017you get each year for the classes or no? >> For for mine we used uh acrylic paints but the school purchased the large canvases for us. >> Lisa, how about yours though? >> Mine has varied year to year. Um I don't use acrylic paint just at like in my classes just due to the perian of it. Um, so I do for like a painting challenge, I'll buy my own acrylic paint and things like that. And for the illustration challenge, they take in so many different directions. It's not necessarily something I would have in my classroom. Um, last year, Brian and Dennis were able to find funds to help me fix that. So, um, at the middle school, I purchased specialty paper that the students wanted, but other than that, we use the 3D printers here
018and the printers on school premise. >> The board Obviously, I can't I applaud you ladies. Lisa, you started this five years ago. Been paying out your pocket since I wish you came to us three and a half years ago. You know, if I had to for what you've been doing, I think the board supports it. Can't imagine why they wouldn't. I think we need we need to get together and talk about funding structures and look do a deeper dive and figure out what the right compensation would be for your time. But I certainly wanted you as we do all club new clubs have the board app were denied and this one seems like it's a yes. He has said hello and you're right the work that Dr. Jack is talking about what a portrait graduate
019looks like. The work that he's clearly doing is a perfect example of that. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> All right. Next up, we have the class of 2026. talk about the senior trip. >> Oh, look at you. >> You have any extra? Give them up. You want to say I don't want to ask but >> feel like I'm on the bus down. >> Hey, you guys are approved. You can get out of here. >> Heat. Hello everyone. Board of Education, Mr. Howard. So for the class of 2026, a senior trip, we are proposing to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania. So my name is Rowan Howard. I'm the president of the class. >> I'm Isabelle Lamontto. I'm the vice president. I'm I'm secretary and unfortunately our treasurer Georgia Pon could not make it tonight due to the
020hockey game. >> So we plan to leave for our trip um Friday May 29th and we'll be returning Sunday May 31st for a total of three days and two nights. >> Um the package includes a round trip with transportation and two nights at a hotel that include breakfast and two dinners. We also get a for Hershey Park, the water park, and of America, and we get a tour of the Indian caverns. If this trip gets approved, the costs are listed here. The more people that are in the room, the less expensive it will be, and a $50 non-refundable deposit will be due by November 3rd. And this will also include a roommate request. So, our payments will be scattered across four months starting in December. Um, after December, it'll be on the first Monday of
021every month ending on March 2nd. And so, that'll be varying depending on how much each student is paying, like depending on how how big their room size is. >> Um, we are hoping to have a 1 to 10 staff to student ratio on the trip. And, um, to We have done lots of fundraisers and we'll be doing lots of fundraisers and we have an active fundraiser if anybody wants to support >> it's a it's a mom sale and they're beautiful. So >> um students on the trip will provide their own spending money um to their leisure and we will have a full day to explore inside the Hershey Park. Thank you all for your time. Do you guys have any questions? >> Go ahead. How do I get those moms? >> Do you have a
022pen? >> I got it right here. >> I have plenty of pens. >> Wow. Look at this. >> The fee structure. Is the fee structure based on what you have already made as a class or what you're projecting based on some of the sales fundraisers you still have? >> I think it's based on what we already have and what we're projected to make like on the future. that we have like based on like we did we did in Montgomery last year and so we're probably projecting the same amount around the same amount as me last year. >> I know one of the priorities of the board is to ensure that uh equity for students who families experience financial hardship into class ways to make it more affordable students in that situation. >> So we do
023a lot of fundraisers and each fundraiser that a scholar participates in they get points and the points will add up and get off of the senior trip. >> So those those numbers we just saw aren't finite. They could be uh could vary depending on a person's participation over the last four years. >> I got one back here. Do you have a minimum number of students you need to bring in? >> Sorry. >> And the more you bring, does the price go down based on the number? >> No. Rowan, don't you get sick on rides? [Laughter] >> Is your father chef running? >> I'm a great chef. >> Any other questions? >> What do you think the participation level will be? We get 40 easily or work at that >> even more. How many went last
024year? >> It was a full bus. >> Was it always about >> Yeah, we had a meeting this morning. So hopefully that'll encourage kids to participate more. >> Any uh objections to them moving forward with this plan? You're missing one day school, I assume, Friday or is that a holiday? We leave early in the morning, Friday 5 a.m. probably. >> Is that a school day or is it a holiday? >> It depends. >> Scheduled school day. >> It's a schedule. >> But they are. >> It's a school day. >> Okay. >> Fair. You'll be back Sunday night. What time? >> 7 8 that early. >> 7 8 p.m. Good. >> Yeah, I'm good. >> Good present. >> She's talking about the other kind of mother. My mother. >> All right. Next item on the agenda
025is public comment. Anyone here for public comment this evening? Right. >> All right. Next on the board discussion. We have the board of education meeting minutes from August 18th. Any questions, comments, concerns about those? Motion to approve those minutes by Kevin, seconded by Heath. All in favor on that. Anybody have anything else for board discussion tonight? >> All right, move right along the superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening, everybody. Um, before I get into my report, I just wanted to point out a couple things uh on tonight's agenda. We have uh Tim Ryan retiring as a district carpenter after 32 years of service. And we thank him for his many years and wish him a long, healthy retirement. And also there is a donation to be received for the backpack program from our
026PTA president Tessa Bushy. So $1,000. Once again we thank Tessa for her generosity to the scholars of this district. Well done. Want to give a speech. >> Our uh we're happy to have the scholars and our our teaching staff back and our aids TAs. Uh I think it's been a great opening school. Our superintendent conference day uh seemed to be well received by staff. I sent the board the agendas and thank Dr. >> others who helped him put that together. I think Dr. Daget's uh keynote address was wellreceived about the role of AI, how it's transforming the world as we speak and the importance that as educators we meet the call to to meet the students where they are uh and look hard at how we are educating our scholars and to help them be
027prepared for the life that awaits them upon graduation. We are forming a AI committee within the district and Dr. Daget had a breakout session with some members of that committee and we have a few more uh teachers and staff members that have voiced interest in being part of that AI committee kind of an ad hoc committee this school year. who knows what it could grow into. But uh you know a couple years ago we did prioritize AI and has staff to start putting their toe in the water familiarizing himself with its benefits and and possibly it shortfalls which I think as a society we really haven't quite figured out yet because it's changing so rapidly. We don't know what the impacts are going to be. I think we could all agree that uh Terminator is
028not going to happen anytime soon. certainly hope that's not in the future and I think people are alarmists who suggest that's what it's going to do. Um but certainly I think as Dr. Daget pointed out the potential of AI being uh influenced um so that when people are constantly going to it to get what should be factual information there could be uh slants to it. So that's something I think as a society we need to be aware of and hopefully it's something that the government can have bipartisan cooperation on to come together and ensure um that as AI continues to evolve we are monitoring to ensure a transparent fair society that's not influenced by one side or the other hate even talking about one side or the other as a country as a world as
029a as a human race we have vested interest in in keeping it clean. Um, but I think Dr. Dagi is a worldrenowned educational theorist. He's going to be partnering with HFM Boseies and we are one of the component districts that is participating. We have a team that will be going four times over the next four months to meet with Dr. Daget to really get into the portrait of a graduate, what New York State is starting to slowly define of what a portrait of a graduate looks like. And I think Lisa spoke to that a little bit in her presentation and she's right. It's it's uh you know, the ability to work independently, the ability to work as a group, the ability to make uh informed decisions based on sound research practices, um obviously be a
030global citizen and citizen a solution finder instead of a problem finder. You know, there's a lot of aspects to this uh that I really am buying into the region's exams are going to become optional in the next few years. We're really going to see a a significant transitional period. even some of the kids that are in our high school and middle school right now are going to be subject to that uh transitional period as we go through this. So, as I said to the staff, it's really exciting time to be in education and uh I can't say enough for the uh spirit of the staff that I've seen the last three days or five days since they've been three days of class and two days of conference dates. Uh people seem excited, genuinely excited about
031this coming school year. So, I appreciate that. Um, as I said, smooth opening the cell phone band. We did this last year, so it's really not a hiccup. I was asked the other day in Runnings. Did you hear that? That lady said, "Are you the superintendent?" >> Yeah. Actually, no. How's the cell phone ban going? Q&A with the with the public at Runnings. Um, truth is cell phone ban was not no hiccups whatsoever. The building principles might say something differently, but I've heard nothing. And, uh, that means it's gone pretty smoothly, I think. um because we did this work last year. So, no heavy lift with the new cell phone ban on our buildings. Um one thing I just want to give a plug for is we extended the summer reading logs to be turned
032back in. We want to uh celebrate those students who who took the challenge and the elementary children. Uh and we did certainly deliver it pretty late in this last school year. We did remind them over the summer. Um, but pretty anemic participation thus far as far as uh those being turned in. We've spoken to the PTA in the past and you know there it was the 11th hour. I don't blame them for saying you know we don't want to do this for the summer. we did it ourselves, but I think the PTA is receptive to being an active, if not the lead agency and some kind of pick a reading partner initiative uh that could hopefully breathe some life into the responsibility of parents and guardians to really encourage literacy among the children because the
033research is clear there is a a summer slide for scholars that occurs uh with the absence of informed instruction and and literacy instruction. So hopefully uh we can work with our community with our PTA uh to really illuminate the importance of literacy. The parent is the first and most important teacher in any children's lives, any child's life. U and we really want to empower them, support them and and provide them the materials to to to read with their children and and help them feel that uh they are that first and most important teacher in any child's life. So look forward to partnering with the PTA on some initiative of that nature. I don't care if it's something different. I just want literacy instruction to be emphasized in our district. There's no question it's and AI
034is not taking that away. I think Dr. Daget made that crystal clear that one of the most important emerging fields is prompt writing and the ability to pull elicit information out of AI and you need sound literacy skills to be an effective prompt writer. And uh you know that's the term prompt writer certainly does not define the importance of literacy in in the new world. uh just the ability to continue to clearly articulate yourself to pull information out of what is an amazing uh technology. So look forward to uh the work ahead with the AI committee and with the PTA to uh really emphasize literacy in our district. Few little hiccups. One of them is the Boulevard Elementary gym floor. Um I've mentioned that in the board right now that that gym is uh being
035it's off limits. Luckily, the weather's nice because we had to carve out some areas that did not the the sealer did not take. I don't know if they put on too thick. Uh I don't know if it settled because that floor has too many waves in it. That's what they're saying. But frankly, I'm not really believing that. I can't help but thinking that didn't happen all of a sudden. I don't know if it was a bad batch of the sealant, but whatever the case may be, there's it's going to be unsightly. There's a lot of spots. We think it's safe now what they did for the kids to be able to utilize, but I'm told uh the floor will not be as sharp as it could or should be or has been until we resurface
036it, which I'm told is due. It's never been done. I don't know when that building was built. I was told 30 or 40 years ago. Rob, you might know. >> It's pretty old. >> Okay. The floor has never been done. And there are areas where I can see it pooling because there are peaks of valleys. >> I send it on to Rod Rande. Uh it's roughly uh about $30,000 project to take that down, sand the floor. That would be removal of all lines. You know, you got three quarter inch hardwood. You can uh resurface that floor, reseal it, reline it, and you'll have a brand new gym floor for about $30,000, which with state aid, you're looking at 3,500 bucks. So, it's kind of a no-brainer for us to but we're still going to have
037several years before that work's done. So, any questions on that? I mean, that's literally the biggest hiccup. And I, you know, I told people that I'll take it if uh one gym floor that's out of service for three to four days and is going to look not perfect is our biggest hiccup to start the school year. Any questions on that? Um Jen Hazard, she didn't make it, did she? So I sent the board a uh a proposal from Mrs. Hazard, who's our key club adviser. Um Mrs. Hazard is proposing, you know, the number of families serviced uh through the Christmas efforts uh Christmas program, sponsored child Christmas program has grown up to roughly 500 children uh which is remarkable for this district to be able to provide Christmas at the holidays and presents and gifts
038for for for the less fortunate in our community. There's 500 families of students are being serviced through this and the generosity of many many people many organizations and between uh uh Mrs. Hazard and and Lan Hawkins those two really headed up along with the students in the Key Club and there's certainly a lot of other people who were involved Melinda Harrington and Jess Rodriguez also do the toys for tots and there's a lot of moving parts. I've never seen a community frankly uh who rolls who works as hard as they do as this district does to provide a quality holiday season for children. That said, uh Mrs. Hazard informed me that there was a number of of scholars who were parents were there to pick up toys uh but yet they never sent their kids
039to school. Literally, some of them were never in our schools. and she made the argument, and it's hard to disagree, that the most important gift we can give any child is an education. And she wanted to incentivize parents who rely on this program to send their children to school by making a minimum attendance rate at roughly 85%. State expectation is 95% attendance. Uh Jen is proposing that we set between say start of school and November 15th or Thanksgiving roughly right around there and that the only students who would be eligible would be those with an 85% attendance rate or higher. Knowing how the challenges we've had with uh our attendance in the past and unfortunately some do not value education as much as we think they should especially say elementary levels. um that I am
040intrigued with her proposal and do not outright reject it, but ultimately uh I do have some concerns with kids being hurt or denied Christmas because their parents aren't valuing education and those would be unexcused absences like any excused absences would be included as a here. So, I wanted the board to weigh in on this before I make a decision that might be unpopular with the board. Um and I'll take my margin orders as you give them. Any thoughts? I want I'd like to hear. What's that like seven days out of 50ish? >> I think it's a good idea. I think it's just Yeah, there's probably got to be some kind of thought on exception process for things like you mentioned because sometimes there are things out of control that >> I'm just to like is
041it really fair to a four-year-old to not have Christmas because his parents didn't bring him to school because it wasn't important to them. I mean, I I think it's a great idea, but I think of a kid, >> you know. I don't know. >> I understand. That's my biggest dilemma, too. And I sat down and talked to her about it. >> Just curious what if >> that's right >> to not put a limit on them. >> Maybe it's something. And then what happens after they get they don't have to attend school? Do you know >> it might be something that uh as a district we earmark uh those who have signed up for it and are counting on being a recipient that if their children's attendance is poor that we're really making an outreach effort
042if we're not going to put some kind of stimulation on it that we do a better job of trying to engage. >> Yeah. I mean I do I think our schools especially in the elementary which is the largest population of this program but it's it's K12 but um I think we do reach out to our absent kids. We're just looking for another way to try to incentivize people. And I think Jen's well intended on this and she understands the downside and that's why I told her I said, you know, this is something the board of education is going to have to give me some direction. And I'm torn frankly, Kelly, like you said. So, seven days out of roughly 50 is what >> 56 days in the first three months of the school year, September,
043October, and November. And uh 85% of that would be 47 48 days. a unexcused or unexcused abst has to write a note to Dave is sick this morning, >> right? >> And what happens after Christmas, there's no nothing holding the parents accountable from January to June for that child. So, >> but there's nothing preventing them from going to other foundations either, right? So, for instance, when I worked for Time Warner Cable, we were delivering toys for tots. We delivered truckloads of toys to a community. So to a home sket another truckload was delivered from a different shelter, >> the same thing. So how does that work as well? >> Um there's no question that there's I think we're it's still a work in progress. This program has continued to to grow in the last four
044or five years. Um is there some who are triple dipping? >> There are a few. >> Yeah. And I'm not even saying that's happening here, but I'm saying we're not the I'm saying we're not the only source for families either. >> No, I understand that, but I'm saying even in house with the different efforts, we're trying to coales our efforts, but uh there's still some holes and we're still it's still work in progress. But if I'm kind of what I'm getting from the board is let's leave any kind of stipulation on attendance off of this and rare event that we're going to be hurting some poor little kid who >> what do they have to sign up by? The parents or >> don't they in the do the other group with their twice per they
045like cross check their list to make sure we don't have >> Kathy know when we have to have that >> they did that last year going to try to do that I can't seem >> I thought she said November 15th when >> I think that I think she wanted to use that as a cut off date um for attendance purposes but I thought we started having people sign up much earlier um first day of school no she doesn't say that so I guess I do not have that information in front of me of what the cuto off date is or when they start signing up and when they uh >> it wouldn't hurt to go through the list anyways if we're not going to put a date on there and be like start doing outreach.
046I mean I get Jen's frustration and then somebody that's done fundraising for the community. You can't show up for anything but mention you mentioned the word free and they come running. >> I mean it is frustrating. I completely understand the frustration she has. >> She's right. Free public education is the best gift we can give our children. >> Yeah, she's right. I mean, she's right. >> Okay, I uh I think I got enough information on that one. Thank you. Um dogs on district property. I think I sent the board something about this. Um we have signs that say no dogs allowed. Obviously, therapy dogs are service animals are exempt from that. But I talking to our attorneys got different policies. A lot of districts allow people as long as the dog's on a leash, as
047long as you pick up after your dog and properly dispose of any waste. Um, which sounds great. Uh, but we have people who do not do that. We see little bags. They'll even bag it and they just leave the bags laying around and sometimes our B&G folks are out there with weed whackers and whip the bags and makes you know they're covered with, you know, and uh that's not ideal. And also you have the risk of a person who's irresponsible enough to bring a dog on a leash that might not fit them well and next thing you know they're at soccer game. There's a lot of kids don't track and a kid dog gets off a leash and and lights somebody up. Um, I guess I'm looking for direction on Do you want us to
048uh develop a policy that prohibits dogs on our property? Because Aaron Morris said, "Dave, we got everything from that, no dogs allowed whatsoever except certified service animals to what I just described as uh after hours when school's out of session. Uh, dogs on leashes and properly maintained are allowed." Truth is, we have people that walk dogs in this campus almost every day. Some people do walk during the day hours and I'm in my office and sometimes they get uh disrespectful uh if they're challenged about being on the property by staff members. Um so it's not an ideal situation and we do not have definitive policy on. Clearly the district has had no dogs allowed as signage but even that is not as uh prevalent as it probably can and should be if that is our
049position. So again I'm looking for your direction on what where you want me to go with this and we will develop a policy that articulates exactly what we want and we would create signage and make it known among this organization. This is the expectation. >> We saw we had an old dogs policy. I just didn't know it was a procedure. It's been a procedure. It's not been a codified policy. >> I don't know. Last year, I think one of the most frustrating things we had during football season were countless days of kids stepping on stuff in the field. I mean, countless. We had a message Mr. Dress about it. So I'm >> I mean you can the uh artificial intelligence lords say you can uh write the policy to allow them on the roads and
050sidewalks that go through like up here. I mean that's usually where they're walking up here, right? >> He was up here but he's describing park terrace park terrace. >> Yeah. So um >> how does that work? How does that work with streets? Well, keep on the sidewalks. You're saying keep off grass. >> It says some schools have policies like to keep them off the grass, but they can walk on the the roads and sidewalks along district property. >> Whatever we decide, I want to strictly enforce whatever we >> should be black and white. >> It should be black and white. >> If you allow them on the sidewalks and parking lots, but that has to be when there's like nothing happening like no soccer games, no football games, no opportunity for a dog to come
051off their leash to come after somebody >> or a kid has a dog allergy. >> We always have after school activities happen. I mean like realistically >> like tonight there's the campus is packed, right? >> So I've heard three or four say no. >> I'm no. >> Okay, I think I got enough. Uh I think we got a quorum of nos. So um we will put together policy and we will get some better signage. get that in front of you and we will communicate that to the community as best possible. Thank you for that. Um reminder, we got a board retreat 9:18. Uh and last thing is uh a botchi ball unified sports team. I told Demo to go ahead with this, but uh we're going to ask you to approve a stipen. I think
052it's Demo came up with one of the stipens, which is a it's in the teachers contract. I don't know who he has in mind but uh he believes based on the time Amsterdam brought off birth for playing and fond all have teams demo believes uh it's recommended the coaches type be placed under group four the GTA contract which is $2744. Um, Amam built Voti ball courts that was paid for by the count the McGomery County. He they said that we can use that as our home site for our unified botchi ball team. And uh Dee was also looking at Fulton County to see if there might be another funding stream where we could build our own botchi ball court beyond the high school or beyond the tennis courts. >> Courti ball right now. lot of
053times in this community support this. >> Are we good to go ahead with the botchi ball program? Okay, that concludes my report. I will need executive session to talk about personnel. >> Any questions for me? Next we have administrative reports and I'll turn it over to Travis Heiser Middle School summer program. hasn't. While Travis is getting ready, I also Just want to say welcome to the board. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. And I'm sorry. And >> gentlemen, welcome. And thank you both for your uh for willingness to do this. It's a labor of love. >> Um >> did you guys get candy bars that they br you? >> All right. Did you get a candy bar? We got one here for you. >> Um I don't have any candy bars right there next to
054my coffee. First of all, um I'm Travis. I'm the middle school principal here. I just wanted to kind of go over um our summer learning academy that we had um this past summer here at GMS. Um the purpose of the summer learning academy was to um help strengthen academic skills to those scholars that may have struggled throughout the uh previous school year. um and really try to get them back on track and keep the momentum going for the upcoming school year. Um obviously our goals was to have them be engaged throughout the summer, not only academically but with the social emotional development. Um our target group who we targeted were scholars who um required additional support after not meeting all expectations in two or more of the core subjects um for the 2425 school year.
055Um as well as this year we added um eighth graders that needed um some Spanish credit recovery program um which we um I'll get into that here a little bit. Um core focus was strengthening essential skills and providing meaningful collaborative learning opportunities scholars for continued success. Um the dates were for four weeks. We ran it Monday through Thursday 8 to noon. Obviously locations here in the middle school. We provided breakfast as well as lunch to all of the scholars each of those days. Um, which is something that was extremely important. Obviously, our kids, you know, could come in in the morning, eat breakfast, then we just kind of go to our rotations like we would throughout the normal day. At the end of the day, um, they would have to eat their lunch in the
056cafeteria before, um, exiting the building. Um, academic focus this year was obviously the four core subjects as well as Spanish. Um we focus on opportunities to strengthen the critical skills and competencies essential for success in the next grade level. Um our expectations were to have academic achievement. Um have scholars increase their confidence and readiness to thrive for the upcoming school year. Um we also had we had one specific teacher that's what they focus on was um was one of our rotations. Um she used social emotional learning activities to support emotional growth um teamwork um and really worked on those positive interactions that were going to have success or they would need to have success moving forward. Um also worked on their social skills um to help them you know what they're going to need as
057they progress in their educational career and also those peer relationships which were extremely important. Um, this year we started a Spanish 8 credit recovery program, which was our goal was to have some of those eighth grade scholars who did not earn their foreign language credit throughout the school year, get them to um, get that credit so when they go to the high school, it's one less thing that they had to do. Um, this year we had 27 scholars participate in that program. Um, we're happy to say that with all those 27 scholars that participated, all of them received um their their credit for this year, which is which will help Cody move it into the high school with scheduling purposes as well. Um, we also had some engagement activities um such as we had some
058STEM classes, we had art, we had swimming, we had fized um just kind of give them the overall experience. Obviously academics is extremely important, but we wanted them to have that outlet to have some some positive fun as well. Um, and I think it went really went well. Um, the swimming obviously is a big hit with our kids. They enjoy the pool. Um, so we had lifeguards that were there daily for that. Um, and also STEM was something that the scholars really really enjoyed. Um, transportation which is huge. Um, we had transportation located at our elementary schools and students or sorry, scholars were transported here to the middle school. So we have kids that didn't need to walk. We had kind of bus pickups. Um and the buses would depart those schools at approximately 7:50
059and arrive here by 8 and then they would again return to those um schools at the end of the day around 12:10 to walk home. So it was it's much it was safe for them to you know easier to get them here. Attendance was great as a result of that. Um I think it helped out greatly having those transportations. Um SC attended sixth grade we had 22, seventh grade 21, eighth grade 25. Um, and we had 27, as I said, scholars attend the Spanish recovery program, and we had 100% pass that our promotion rate for students that were going to be promoted to the next grade level was 97%. Um, which was something that we're extremely proud of. Um, again, I think the program as a whole, um, again, Mr. Hen said, scholars that, you
060know, take time off often struggle. So, this had kept them going. At the end of the year, kept the momentum. Um, as far as, you know, behaviors, we really had no behaviors. I think kids were extremely engaged and wanted to be here. Um, we did have smaller cohorts, which I think helped with that one-on-one instruction, build those relationships with those teachers. And I think, you know, scholars also had different teachers that they didn't have throughout the school year. So, it allowed them to see different personalities of staff members and kind of build different relationships with teachers that they might be having. Sixth grader might have had a seventh grade. um you know teacher so they got to kind of build that connection before they actually will go to that next grade level. Um obviously you
061know the attendance is always a challenge but again I feel that the transportation and working with Nicole Cost has been very positive in that regards to having that opportunity to um have those scholars be picked up from their local support our bus stops and transported here. Um and obviously we have a diverse learning group here and many different students at very different levels. Um but again um those differentiated instructions from our staff and offering different opportunities I really think help get them ready to to go on to the next group. Um behavior improvements again I think you know our scholars have over the last year have really started to demonstrate better behavior. um not only in summer school but also in GMS as a whole. Um and that again comes back to our relationships with
062um our scholars and the relationship that they have with our staff members as well and really trying to have those conversations, real conversations with them. Um so again that has really helped our scholars. Um overall impact it's extremely important. I think our scholars will say you know beginning of summer school I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I don't want to go. But once they're here, I think they realize the importance of it. And I think they realize that they they do need that extra help. And I think really, you know, I can see this year already that those scholars that attended summer school have really started off this year um on a path to do good things. Um I think that was something that if we would have let them leave
063in June and not see them till September, we might have had a little different story. But I really think that having the summer learning academy, you know, it kind of bridges that gap a little bit, even though it is only four weeks, it gives them the opportunity to set them up for success. And I think if they feel success in, you know, summer learning academy, that's going to carry over um to the next school year, which I kind of see early on in our first four days here in school. So was very good. You know, I I appreciate, you know, the board of education, you know, supporting this initiative. I I think it's extremely important obviously for our scholars for the reasons I already said. Um, you know, it's hopefully it's something that we can
064continue to do. I think the Spanish recovery program is definitely going to help in eighth grade, which was something that we knew we did this year. There's other issue or things that Cody and I will kind of talk with that what I could do down here to bridge that gap with the high school. Um, for those eighth graders that are moving forward, you know, getting those scholars that sixth and seventh grade the skills that they need to set them up for success moving forward. So, appreciate, you know, the support questions. >> Nice job, John. >> Thank you guys. >> Nice to nice start to the school year as well. >> Thank you. >> I got my uh right here right now. >> I'll have those board's wondering when they're getting some of those. >> The
065board's like, "Where's our right here right now?" >> Cody got just keeping them warm. That's deflection 101. >> Next report from Kirsten Thompson on the elementary summer learning academy. Good evening everyone. I'm Kristen Thompson. I ran the summer learning academy at the elementary level. So this summer we had our academy at Kingsboro Elementary. We had 14 classrooms and 33 staff. We ran four weeks half days. Um we also had breakfast and lunch for all of our scholars every day of the program. We were able to offer um reading, writing, math, science, and social skills. So um with our MTSS initiatives that gives us lots of data on our scholars throughout the school year to really plan for the summer learning academy. um a lot of it is easily accessible and we can take those um
066skills that the scholars left in June working on and continue that and that's exactly what we did. Um also our second step program we had uh Dr. Michael Frasier come in and he ran our social skills. Each classroom got to have a social skills lesson twice a week. This year we had 114 scholars um entering K. So the entering K were our um end of the year preK scholars coming in uh through fifth grade. Uh we were also able to service 24 students uh with disabilities across the continuum of services. So this summer we really saw great participation um and engagement walking in. You saw lots of fluency practice and math. You saw lots of phonic awareness and phonics activities going on. We had STEM and creative arts. Um the social skills I mentioned. Um
067all of that is imperative to continue through the summer to prevent that summer slide. So, our scholars were really ready to come back in September to get the next school year rolling. Um, and we had a lot of fun. So, there was lots of giggles and laughter um throughout the halls and in the classrooms and on the playground and in the cafeteria. Uh, we ended the summer program with a day full of fun, lots of snacks and slime and obstacles. Um, and it was a wonderful time. And the teachers did it themselves. These teachers come back year after year to run this program. Uh they run it, they know what to do. Uh they told me what I needed to do thankfully. Um and they are completely committed to making sure these kids have uh
068a program to come to uh a safe place to play and learn and grow and uh and get to spend a little extra time with them. So, um, I want to thank you for your support. Thank you for keeping this program going year after year. Um, it's something that I think we can continue to improve upon. Um, make it a little bit more comprehensive as we go. Um, and if you have any questions, I would love to answer them. >> Thank you. Thank you. One thing I just wanted to I forgot to mention my report that it's important for the board to know that uh we when we sent this to you last week there was five MOAs that hadn't been voted on yet by the DTA. So only three of the five passed, right?
069Three of the five passed and uh that changes in front of you. So there's two that are off and it is the seal of biiteracy uh and the tested accommodations. Those two MOAs failed the leadership team and GTA. So we'll go back to drawing board and figure out what to do with those. the other three pass. So, we appreciate PBIS and the mentoring program uh MOAS which are approved and are on tonight's agenda. >> All right. Uh next is our student board member report. I know you don't have anything tonight so you have to double up next month. >> Welcome aboard. >> Nice back there. >> Do you have a report? >> No. Fair enough. It's only been three days, right? All right. Next, we have our recommended items. We have 9.01 through 18.118. Anybody
070need anything pulled? Discussion. Motion to approve. Kelly seconded by Ed. All in favor of those. All right. Now, I need a motion to go into executive session and discuss some personnel items. Motion for that. Kevin, seconded by Mike. All in favor? All right. Thank you. There'll be no action taken afterwards. Have a good night, everyone.