GCSD Board of Education Meeting - May 26th, 2026

001over to the students. Okay, so, um then you guys can start and like introduce and then you just hit like the right button to advance. And I did put his paper at almost everybody's seat. I didn't have enough >> All right, if I can have everybody find their seats, we'll get this meeting started this evening. I would like to welcome everyone to our Tuesday, May 26, 2026 Board of Education meeting. Um if I can have everyone rise for a moment of silence and silent reflection for um it'll be for Laura Bolano. And if we can also we'll do the pledge as well and that'll be led by board member Frizell Ronel. So, for the moment of silence, I'd like to remember Laura Bolano. She passed away on May 11th, 2026 at 88 years old. >>

002[snorts] >> Laura dedicated many years of her life as a teacher within the Greece Central School District, where she touched countless lives through her kindness, patience, and encouragement. She will be remembered for her eternally positive spirit, unwavering optimism, and genuine compassion toward everyone she met. Laura's warmth and strength left a lasting impact on her family, her friends, her former students, and all that had the privilege of knowing her. Please keep Laura and her family in your thoughts and prayers. >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. All right, if I could have someone move the agenda to table, please. Moved by Vice President Stansil, seconded by Mr.

003Butler. Any additions, corrections, deletions to the agenda? I would just like to pull policy 7421 out of the second read of policies. We'll make that number 1104. 11.04 will be policy 7421, and the other policies will move together as 11.03. So, all those in favor of the agenda as amended? That passes 9 to 0, and we are lucky enough tonight to have our student leaders from Odyssey High School. Come on down. >> [applause] >> Good evening, everyone. My name is Gabrielle Graves, and I'm a proud assistant principal at Odyssey Academy. I have with us tonight, we are going to be showcasing and talking about our AP Capstone program. We are the only school in the district that has an AP Capstone program and we are extremely proud of it. We not only have scholars here

004who are currently in our AP Capstone program but also some former graduates that were in our first AP Capstone cohort that graduated and are now both at RIT. So I'm going to let some of our staff take it over to do some introductions. >> Hi, my name is Josh Austin. I teach AP Seminar at Greece Odyssey Academy. So we just wanted to go through a quick overview of the Capstone program giving an idea of what the course is before the students come up and speak about their experiences. So the Capstone program is a two-year program at Odyssey. The first year is for AP Seminar which is usually taken in 11th grade with the possibility to go on to AP Research in 12th grade. AP Seminar is kind of our introduction to academic research. So they

005learn how to get some databases, they learn how to read some high-level academic what we call tier one sources in peer-review journals. And then use that information to build some arguments. Their first performance task from around Thanksgiving until around Valentine's Day as a group project where each student produces a 1200 word paper which they then put together into an 8 to 10 minute presentation to explore some solutions to problems they identified. And then follow up with performance task two around Valentine's Day until April where you receive some stimulus materials from College Board. We read and work through them. They do individual papers 2000 words with a 6 to 8 minute presentation. Once they're finished with that they can go on to AP Research and they have the opportunity to get AP Capstone diploma getting threes

006in both of those courses or excuse me certificate three in both of those courses. Diploma the same thing plus four AP exams with a three or higher. >> I'm Corey Perry. I teach AP Research. Um I'm the second year after Josh. So, they start with seminar, they come to my class, they do research. And the interesting thing about research is it's really sets them up for college and college writing. So, they pick their question. Uh this is the QUEST framework. So, this is something that we go through multiple times during the year, but as teacher, I teach them the components of research, but it's up to the student to actually create their own question, create their own gap, do their own lit review and studying materials, um run a methods and collect data, and apply

007that to their questions. So, it really is setting them up for success for these longer papers. It's the only AP course that doesn't have a final exam. Their final exam is their paper. So, they're being graded on a 20-minute presentation that's all up to them to create and a 4,000 word, about a 15-page paper that is nuts and bolts them doing everything and all the work. I can't give them feedback unless they ask questions. I can only if I see any types of issues, I'll show model papers and we'll parallel what they're doing in the class. So, it really is up to them to do the work and it's pretty pretty amazing to see what they come up with. And we actually gave you one of the paper examples and um my student [clears throat]

008Silas will be talking about that a little bit later. All right, thank you. >> I'm Isabella Ferguson. >> And I'm Deidra Brown. >> Um we took AP Seminar this year and honestly, it's like no class I've ever taken before. And simply considering it just a class doesn't do it enough justice because it is a course that uniquely approaches AP projects and establishes skill sets that are applicable to all future classes that really change the way that you think and and expand your range of developing ideas. But throughout our year of AP Seminar, we have grown our personal skills and comprehension and our abilities to break down complex readings have been refined greatly thanks to the rigor of the course. Completing our assignments has quickly become a very rewarding and exhilarating experience. I know for me

009personally, it was really hard for me to sit down and actually write long-term or write something that strenuous, but I feel like it has become a little easier for me and now I feel actually really prepared for AP research. And being able to submit that at the end of this year was like a relief. It was a weight off my shoulders. It felt so good to do. But with all the effort we put in the performance task ones, it created an intense, meaningful collaboration in class that ultimately allowed us to work with others productively in a way we haven't before. Performance task one is a section of the year that you spend collaborating with your chosen group. Our group, my endangered group, spent months focusing on water pollution and its impacts its impacts between humans.

010Each person focused on a different lens and we incorporated all of our evidence to evaluate possible solutions before suggesting one ourselves. Based on our group's evidence, this task worked to expand our collaboration and writing skills greatly. Performance task two was after PT1 and the research was individual. You were given six stimulus materials to guide your research and you had to incorporate two into your paper and presentation. Due to the individ- individuality of the research, more critical thinking was needed as well as more rigor for the quality and completion of the task. This especially helped with my confidence as that I knew what I was doing more so than in the beginning of the year and I was more capable of standing and presenting all alone now. Creating a lasting impact on our lives as students

011because of the qualities that we developed throughout the class. I personally have seen my peers grow not only as students but people. Many of them became more confident like myself seemingly coming out of our shells. I would recommend AP Seminar as a must or to be taken in a serious consideration for people who intend on pursuing college because it sufficiently prepares you for similar tasks that you'll be required to do in college. AP Seminar is also a great class to be in if you're in AP Language and Composition or AP US History because it There are a lot of parallels in the coursework as we complete the school year. Taken into one, each class works for us all to grow and understand different things about life as well build on skills that we need to

012continue in life. >> And then now I'm here to talk about the AP Research program. Um the next two slides that you'll see is was created by the AP Research class, um myself um and three other students. Um the first thing that we were talking about was the experience in itself um and what students really gain from AP Research as a course. Um so the first thing we talked about was how students develop the skills to effectively write a paper on a topic of their choice that addresses that scholarly conversation existing within the field. Um we mentioned that as one of the most priority things that we learned because at the end of the day we realized that we were able to understand something that not other students were able to understand. Um and that

013was all from our mind and it was all from our own personal ideas. And that led to um us having to find how we can address some of the gaps or some of the different things that we didn't know about using literature review. Um and through that we learned about synthesization um of our own ideas with previous researchers to find a gap and to employ methods. And then another thing that we talked about was important for the AP Research course that we learned was it was a personal learning experiences compared to other classes like the seminar students had mentioned it was our own interest and it's something that we're own that we're all taking the exploration to partake in and then everything that we produce is fully controlled by ourselves. Now we also said that

014the reason why AP Research is very important for us as students is because it sets us apart from our peers mainly because it allows us to have those skills that are necessary for writing a 15-page paper or synthesizing ideas from different resources [laughter] to formulate a logical evidence-based argument driven by previous scholarly conversations and then we also said that establishes a basic understanding of skills needed in a college environment. That was one of the big bullet points that we were able to create because we felt like we are now going to college knowing how to do things that some of the other college students may not have the understanding such as different source websites like we were just talking about it earlier like EBSCO and JSTOR. We were talking about how we are going to

015school knowing what EBSCO and JSTOR is and some of those kids are just like what's an EBSCO what's a JSTOR? And then the last thing that we talked about was how we can increase the program or increase students going into the Capstone or AP certificate program and it was between saying that students should engage in the program because it will teach them how to employ their own knowledge and it will help them understand spots like bias making informed decisions time management meeting deadlines peer review of work and really just making them a student that is applicable to the admissions counselors when thinking about college and I know Mr. Perry had mentioned earlier that on your desk are a sample of my own paper. I talked about the way black male representation is limited in the

016way that we could um figure out ways to increase it within our educational system. And the experience in itself was like no other, especially because I want to become an educator. And it was interesting to see that I was able to understand that this is a problem in not just Greece, not just um Monroe County, but in the entire nation. And here's how Here is something that I can do simply by writing a 15-page paper to explore how to how to increase that representation. So, I would definitely say like AP Research is definitely something that sophomores should be considering, but I also would say like other schools as well because this is just at Odyssey itself. But increasing it to other schools would be something that um would increase that population, would increase students being

017able to go to college to know about um EBSCO and JSTORE and how to use it correctly. So, yeah. >> My name is Willa. Um I was in the first class of AP Capstone. I just finished my third year towards my bachelor's and master's in industrial engineering at RIT. So, I'm just going to talk a little bit about um how I've seen AP Capstone help me in my academic and my professional careers. Going through school, there's times where you have to do a research paper, you have to do a lab report, um and it's expected that you can do these things. It's expected that you can turn out this again 15-page paper in very short time. They don't walk you through it. So, a lot of kids go into this and they don't know how

018to do that. They don't know how to look at what is an academic source. Trying to do a lit review, but they don't know where to look, they don't know how to get those sources. They don't know how to write a method, go through the entire process. So, having already done that through seminar and research was hugely helpful and it's very clear that difference between students who have done this before and those who have never had any kind of introduction to this kind of thing and where else would they get it, right? This program is exactly built to give them that exposure and to walk them through it now so that when they are given that assignment, they can go ahead and attack that and be able to do that successfully. I also see it

019in ways in my professional career. I last RIT does the co-op program. So I have to do full-time work as as an intern. So for the past year I've been working with a company and I've done a lot of data analysis projects and that follows that same kind of framework. How do you approach it? How do you look at those different perspectives and take in and synthesize all the ideas align with your stakeholders, things like that. And I would say one of the biggest things that AP Capstone helps you with in the future is your communication, your written communication as well as your presentation skills. There's just not a lot of opportunities that students see to write papers that are as long as this or to get up in front of a panel of people

020and present by themselves. They don't do that and a lot of times they're not >> [clears throat] >> facing this until they are in their professional career and they're asked to give a presentation and that right there is what makes people succeed and what makes people fail. I've seen people not be held on at work because they can't stand up and they can't present. The communication skills are the most important. They can teach you technical skills. They can teach you how to run a T-test or whatever it is, but being able to convey your your data says what your conclusions were to your audience is immensely helpful. Just the other day my director asked me to present on her behalf to our senior vice president and five of their VPs within a day and I

021was able to go ahead and I was able to do that and the reason that they were able to trust me to do that was because I had enough experience and I was able to develop those skills starting in high school and that was just the most helpful thing, I think. So, that was my [clears throat] experience. >> All right. Um my name's Catherine Schamper. Um I actually just graduated with a bachelor's in neuroscience. Um Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um so, it's actually really interesting because I just actually finished my real capstone in college. So, went from AP capstone to my real capstone. And as you can see, what I did, the effect of SERVQUAL on customer reviews for retail stores, has nothing to do at all with what I do now. Um but

022it still helped me immensely. Um just to start off, I I was never, growing up, like a really outgoing person, you know, I I still remember in eighth grade one time I had to present and I faked an illness so that I said I lost my voice so I didn't have to present. And now I've presented um at conferences, internationally, you know, at RIT. Um so, it's really, really helped me be able to open up and also just have an understanding of research in the way that I can feel comfortable explaining it. Now, you know, before when I first started presenting, especially in like even in seminar, right? I had the flash cards, I'll looking at the flash cards, but at a certain point you begin to really understand it through exposure to it, which

023is what AP research and AP seminar does, through exposure to what is a research process, how do I analyze these kind of papers, to the point where now I have my research poster and I'm comfortable just explaining it, I'm comfortable answering questions without a script because I know what I'm talking about and I feel confident that I know what I'm talking about. And you know, going through um college, it's really, really clear that not everybody has that same experience like through high school. And I feel like that was one of the things like, you know, Odyssey doesn't have all the APs that some other schools do. But, that was one thing that I was like proud to say was that I went through AP research and I've already finished my own research project and, you

024know, that has made me more confident in being able to develop my own, which is what you do for the capstone at RIT was I had to develop my own research project and then carry it out and then obviously present and write a paper on my findings. So, it's a really similar process. Uh but, like one of the biggest things that I noticed that I felt like I kind of had an edge on my classmates um was that they weren't really able to think through their project, right? So, they're making kind of these kind of mistakes where it's because they haven't been through a research project before, they don't know to think, "Oh, if I have this part in my methods, how is that going to affect my data?" Um and that was something that

025I only graduated with two people, but that was something that both of them struggled with and I felt like even though what I did had nothing at all to do with neuroscience um it really helped prepare me to think through, "Okay, I'm writing a methods right now, but what is that going to look like with my results?" You know, what am I What is the end goal? It helps you look at the bigger picture and see the research project process as something like more complete, which is also I credit a lot of this um the AP research class into me knowing that I wanted to go into research. Um there are a lot of people who start out in neuroscience and uh like other related fields and they don't know if they want to go

026to research them back from starting that process. For me, I did this class and I said, "Okay, I know I want to do research." I emailed a professor before I even started going to RIT to ask if I could be in her research lab because I knew I wanted to try it. I knew it was something I was interested in and now I eventually I want to get it like I want to go for a PhD because it it really really like it really really um has had like such an like impact on my like academic career and like my projection for myself. So. Yeah. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Well, thank you all very much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> If we could do a picture with the board and the whole Odyssey team,

027come on down. >> You're good. >> Yeah. Where am I going? >> Oh, you're good. >> I'm just going to stand. >> Come on in. >> Get the picture now. >> Next year you guys got to be on my calendar again to come. Every year. >> Awesome work. >> Here you go. Let's move ahead. Come on, guys. >> I'm short, so I can't reach. >> Come on. >> Students, you guys should be up front. >> Students all up front. >> You guys get up front. >> You get up in the front. >> Come on in. >> You guys are stars. >> There you go. >> Perfect. Come on in. >> Should we kneel down? >> Yeah. >> Do you want Corey and Yanni behind? >> I'm in. >> Corey and Jordan probably get it bad.

028We're falling off the back behind. >> And I'm not running. >> I'm sorry. >> Come on. >> [laughter] >> Ready? >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Can I go in the back? Can I go in the back? Is this on? >> Sit. >> We'll now roll into our 2026-2027 code of conduct presentation, Superintendent Smalley. >> [snorts] >> Okay. I'd like to call up Dr. Baker. >> I'm going to call Abby up. >> And yes, Mr. Torrance. >> So, this computer is Joe controlling this from from behind the curtain. I don't know, maybe I should go to the other laptop. >> This This laptop is enough. >> That's a good sign you can use the other one. >> Go over here. >> Take the hint. >> There we go. I can do that. Okay. Um so,

029good evening everyone. Um my name is Christine Baker. I'm one of the assistant superintendents. >> I'm Abby Torrance. I'm the director of student services and school improvement. And so, we're going to be providing an overview of the changes um that we made to the code of conduct through a committee structure. And we also hope that you'll understand some of the alignment of those changes with the Board of Education Code of Conduct Committee uh resolution that came out earlier this year to see how those two committees work together in order to have the changes that we're recommending for you tonight. So, specifically those recommendations from the Board of Ed Committee helped our charge as a district committee. And the first charge was really to help to explicitly state within the code of conduct how restorative practices

030and traditional discipline are complementary and work concurrently. And then the second is that we revise the code language to ensure that there was more of a balanced treatment to both interventions and consequences. So, we really hope that you're going to be able to see through the changes that we present tonight as an overview on how we were able to incorporate that feedback and we're proud of what we have before you tonight. Um Abby um is the facilitator of the district code of conduct committee, so I'll turn it over to her to provide the overview of those specific changes. >> The district committees work in a shared decision-making model. We have five full elementary and secondary group that meets five times a year and we have stakeholders that are a K to 12 group and we

031have parents, board members, administrators, school staff of who are teachers and school administrators that are part of that group and we have GTA and GASSA um union representatives on those groups as well. And we have three secondary only committee meetings that we took place this year. We restructured a lot of our formatting this year. We heard a lot of feedback that our document was just a little bit too beefy. Um so, we wanted to go through that document and look at consolidating down some of those pages and make sure that the wording was there with intention and not just um wording that was there to be extra wordy. Um so, we looked at pages four and five at the specific goals of the code of conduct, beliefs about children learning and discipline, and the guiding

032principles of the code of conduct and we made some changes to that. So, we reduced page count, we reduced redundancy, and we added clarity around our objectives in those sections. So, you'll see from this graphic some of the areas on those pages that we took out where those X's are and where the check marks are are the areas that we really boiled down as a committee and we changed some of the wording, um consolidated some of that down, and that highlighted section in the beliefs about children learning and discipline, we moved up under specific goals because the committee really felt like it should be a specific goal and not just a belief. On this area, we looked again at removing some redundancy or things that existed in other parts of the code of conduct. We

033moved some of the highlighted section, we kept that part, removed the rest of it. Um and then again where the check mark exists is language that we just reformatted as a committee to make it a little bit more concise and a little bit easier to understand. And then on the last page, we did the same thing under why do we have the code of conduct? Um we kept most of that the same in our new formatting, you'll see the check mark on the bottom. So we're this is getting into what our new look looks like. The check mark is where we changed some of that wording. The second page where you see stars and check marks, we have some new wording, some of our existing language. So stars are new, the check marks are where

034those consolidated language exists in our new formatting. Um and so if you see that was a little bit more concise than those bunch of different pages we showed before. We did some other restructuring. So we reordered the book. So there was a lot of feedback under some from administrators, from parents that a lot of the ordering of the book didn't quite feel um comprehensive. So as we move from one section to the other, um some of it felt out of sequence. So we moved the bullying, cyberbullying from section four to section six. We moved appendix B, which was the back of the book, and that was the section that had all of the infractions listed and what they were, whether they were um level one, level two. Um we moved that into the actual book,

035so we took it out of the appendix and moved it to section five. We took the getting help with a problem, we moved that to the back cover and added a QR code cuz what we found is a lot of what we had been printing was going out of date pretty quickly cuz things are always changing. So, by having a QR code, we could make changes in the moment if agencies were changing or phone numbers were changing or resources were changing, and the QR code would always be up to date on the code of conduct. Um we took the reporting violations from section four, moved that to section five, and the prohibited student conduct moved from section five to section four. And that section was renamed behavioral expectations. So, the rationale, the reason that we

036did that was it was reordered to streamline that information and improve that readability. It made it more apparent that the consequences for behavior are part of the document, they're not in a part of an appendix, it is actually part of the code. Um and we decreased the number of pages by doing all of those movements and consolidating things down, which was really important to make the document a little bit less beefy. >> So, some of the specific changes that we made in the actual content, um so on page 17, uh the formally it said just for grades 3 through 12 that there was a section that applied to the way that discipline could be held. So, in a prior section, we talk about our philosophy with our primary age students that we really are trying

037to um and the state um holds us accountable to at the last resort that we are excluding elementary early age elementary students from school, but it does occur. Um it has happened in those extreme cases, so we made it um while it's rare, still um it is part of our practice that it is broader for K-12 when we might have to consider um some of the the back of the which was the former appendix B, now in the new section, apply some of those consequences to our uh primary age students. We also have the SAVE legislation um on page 32 where we had um an updated interpretation um as far as our um citation from State Ed. And so, we wanted to make sure that we were in compliance with ensuring how disciplinary practices work

038for students with disabilities, and we collaborated with GTA leadership to make that proposal in that um in that new section. Uh we removed the word intent in a couple of our definitions on page 23 and 25 for both damage of property and inappropriate physical contact. That was um at um some of the guidance that we received from hearing officers in that it is very difficult for those two definitions to prove intent, and that intent doesn't necessarily isn't a part of that natural definition. And so, um we removed those in terms of when we have to go to a hearing or to take any disciplinary action that removes some of that ambiguity when it comes to those infractions. And then the dot levels on pages 23, 26, and 27, um those were four definitions for insubordination,

039sexual offense, and possession of combustibles as well as weapons possessions on those pages. And that was where we added a dot within those sections um to say that we could maybe have it might have meant that we added a dot for level two where it could be an in-school where it only lived in out-of-school suspension or vice versa. And that was based on scenarios that have arisen throughout the year where principals are talking to an assistant superintendent and thinking about this document is actually limiting our ability to do that, and that we have sort of practices that were this contextually makes sense to do one of those things. And so, while the dots are not exclusive, so just because a dot lives in just in one category, we can go higher or lower when we

040find a case that where oh no, this makes more sense um to do this. So, for example, we had um in combustibles, there was example of a lighter. And so, needing to be able to have flexibility versus when it's a more severe infraction of bringing something else with intent um to to start a fire. So, those were some differences that we were considering as we went through different scenarios that that arose. >> So, the last major update that we made was levels of behavior on pages 19 and 21. We gathered a lot of feedback from stakeholders. We pulled a lot of data and looked at it together as a group from Infinite Campus on our behavioral resolutions. We talked a lot about wanting to look at the old restorative practice section and how would we

041want to talk about the marrying of of interventions and consequences. And so, we redid that section so that you will see columns now that state behavioral violations, interventions, and consequences. And so, the hope is that our administrators and people in the buildings that are using this document can use this section to pick an intervention. They can look at their violation, they can pick an intervention and a consequence and make sure that we're intentionally using those together. It just makes it a little bit clearer and easier to use as a working document. >> So, this is just a high-level overview of the changes I know we had talked about in more detail at the study session um but basically, the work is in the implementation as we talked a lot about throughout this year is that

042while these documents are actually words on the page, that the real work happens when we implement. And so, we're going to start some of our own behaviors a little bit differently in terms of having the committee start earlier for next school year. So hopefully if there's a successful adoption tonight, we're able to start next month and actually thinking about the 27-28 code versus waiting until the fall so that it's fresh in our in our minds and be able to to think about what our focus might be for for next year. And also expand some of the representation and work a little bit differently versus having separate secondary meetings versus elementary and work that process from a broader perspective. And then we also will work to calibrate our leadership around the changes that happen during a

043structure we have in the summer called circuits and that will help to start to implement those changes into the next school year while we're simultaneously working on any changes we might recommend for next year. So thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. With that, I'm going to call the code of conduct public hearing to order. I have no one signed up so I'm going to close the code of conduct public hearing. Moving on to staffing. Can I have somebody move staffing to the table, please? Moved by board member Siemens. I get a vote by board member Maloney. Any comments, questions, or concerns? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9-0. Assistant Superintendent Larson, you're up. >> Thank you so much. I'm excited to welcome three new administrators this evening. We will

044start with new assistant principal Carrie Gant. >> [applause] >> Carrie is a dedicated educator and instructional leader committed to student growth, strong school culture, and meaningful community connection. She currently serves at Greece Odyssey Academy where she has played a key role in strengthening systems of academic and behavioral support helping to create more responsive structures for students. Carrie began her career in the Brockport Central School District where she spent 20 years as a social studies teacher and instructional technology coach. She also coached boys and girls basketball for more than 20 years at multiple levels, building relationships with students beyond the classroom. In addition, she taught modern modern America through the educational opportunity program at SUNY Brockport, extending her impact to college level learners. She's most passionate about building authentic relationships with students and supporting their growth

045in confidence, skill, and self-awareness. She believes in holding high expectations while ensuring students have the support they need to succeed both academically and personally. Beyond the school setting, Kerry is deeply committed to community engagement and advocacy. She serves on the board of uh Center for Community Alternatives and is involved with the Rochester Education Justice Initiative. Her work is grounded in expanding opportunity, removing barriers, and ensuring all students have access to meaningful and high-quality educational experiences. Kerry values continuous learning and it's committed and is committed to grow growing as a leader. She's excited to step in the role of assistant principal in the Greece Central School District and to serve our families, students, staff, and the broader community. She looks forward to strengthening partnerships and contributing to the school district's ongoing efforts to enhance student achievement

046and build a strong supportive school community. Kerry and her husband, Sherrod, a large blended family and her free time is filled with reading, DIY home projects, and cherish moments with their children and grandchildren. Congratulations, Kerry. >> [applause] >> We'll do a picture with uh superintendent, deputy superintendent, and superintendent of HR. >> [snorts] [applause] >> You'll be out of breath each time, Sean. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome assistant principal, Rebecca Moody. >> [applause] >> Rebecca is a Greece native, having gone to Autumn Lane, Craig Hill, and Athena Middle and High School. She then attended Binghamton University, where she received two bachelor's degrees, one in English with a concentration in creative writing, and one in politics, philosophy, and law. At first, Rebecca thought she would become a lawyer, but after substitute teaching during her

047breaks and holidays from undergrad, she discovered her love of teaching and has been an educator for 17 years. While receiving her master's in education at Columbia University in New York City as a Carroll and Milton Petrie fellow, Rebecca taught sixth grade humanities on the Lower East Side and 12th grade AP literature in Hell's Kitchen. She then moved back upstate and taught ninth grade, 12th grade, 12th grade 1211 ELA at the Canandaigua Academy before moving to teach ELA at Hilton Central School District for the next 14 years. While teaching in Hilton, Rebecca also taught English 101 at MCC for 7 years. Rebecca then joined the English Department at SUNY Brockport, where she taught both English 102 and English 112. She received her building and district level administrative certificate certifications from Brockport and was the principal intern

048for Hilton Central School District summer reading remedial reading, writing, and math program for students in kindergarten through third grade. Currently, Rebecca is an eighth grade ELA teacher at Odyssey Academy. Rebecca's favorite part of the job is the connections she makes with students, staff, and families. She's looking forward to making more of these connections here in Greece as an administrator. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family, her husband Matt and her three children, Simon, Renee and Noel. She is an avid rower, gardener and adopter of rescue animals. Rebecca is very excited to start this next chapter of her career right where she began, in Greece. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> We'll do a family picture first if you want to have your family all come up and do a picture with everybody and

049then we'll do a mark and cheers. >> [laughter] [applause] >> And last but not least, I'd like to welcome new assistant principal Thomas Rowland. >> [applause] >> Tom earned his master's degree in school counseling at William Paterson University, a second master's in educational leadership at Ramapo College and his bachelor's at Bloomsburg University. Prior to coming to Greece, Tom was a middle school vice principal, a high school dean of students, a middle school counselor and a high school counselor. Throughout these positions, he has taken on various responsibilities including serving as the district anti-bullying coordinator, INRST team leader, district 504 coordinator, head school counselor, and testing coordinator. Since November, Tom took the position of elementary house assistant principal here in Greece. He helps support English Village Elementary, the Greece Community Early Learning Center, and Autumn Lane. Recently,

050he was moved to acting assistant principal at Longridge Elementary. Before his career in education, he was a driver in the United States Navy. After being honorably discharged, Tom wanted to find another way to serve and chose to pursue education. Tom looks forward to working with families and staff [clears throat] to best support the students of Greece Central School District. His goal is to ensure every student feels safe, valued, supported, and challenged. Tom and his family relocated to the Rochester area from New Jersey this year. He and his wife, Kate, met in their school counseling program. Kate recently received a position at the Rochester Institute of Technology as the director of student accessibility services. They have two children, Bridget, who is nearly four, and Trip, who is two and a half. The family also has a

051Bernedoodle named Fred, a mini schnauzer named Winston, and a cat named Margot. Tom and Kate are attempting to take up running. They just completed a 5K and a 10K last month with the goal of completing a half marathon in the fall. Congratulations, Tom. >> [applause] >> I'll get you and your wife to walk to a picture and >> I love this picture. >> [applause] >> If you guys want to sneak out, this would probably be a good time if you want to. I don't figure you want to stay. Sit on your purse. >> [laughter] >> All right, next up can I sign the middle jewel agreement to the table, please? Moved by board member Maloney, seconded by board member Bonfiglio. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9

052to 0. Moving on to the gas MOA tuition reimbursement. Can I sign you with that to the table? Moved by board member Farmer, seconded by board member Like. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? Passes 9 to 0. Moving on to GTA MOA additional FTEs. Can I sign you with that to the table, please? Moved by board member Fazzalari, seconded by board member Butler. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? Passes 9 to 0. Moving on to the GTA contract vote. Can I sign you with that to the table, please? Moved by board member Maloney, seconded by board member Seaman. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? You have a question? >> Yes, I have a comment. >> Okay, very good. Mr. Bonfiglio, you're up. >>

053Thank you. Uh I just want I I I understand that that there was um a lot of support for this agreement. And I appreciate the hard work um on both sides to to come to it. And personally, I want to say thank you to the teachers uh for their their commitment to increased flexibility with regard to the PLCs, which is a really important aspect of uh of where we're going to try to um um really strengthen our position as a district um meeting the requirements of uh um evidence-based strategies and I know it it it um requires giving up some of the flexibility that they may have had uh some of the uh discretion that they may have had at least in a relative perspective. I think it's it's it's just a big contribution to

054where where we're trying to go. So, I see the representative out there. Thank you. >> Any other comments? With that, all those in favor? That passes unanimously, 9 to 0. President Eberts, would you like to take a microphone? And while President Eberts is coming up, I just want to make a comment on this contract. Well, um when I ran for the board 18 years ago, the relationship between the district and GTA was an absolute disaster would probably be a good word to phrase it, President Eberts. >> Probably. >> Um it was a mess. And one of the things I appreciate in my first year in presidency, I think Brian was you were VP of GTA most your some of your team was part of GTA at that point and it became a commitment from GTA

055and from myself as president my first year to fix the relationship and I'm most proud that we've had negotiated agreements. We haven't had one expire. We've managed to get contracts done and I want to thank you and your team. I want to thank the board. I want to thank the superintendents that have made that possible, Barbara Dean, Kathy Grawlman and Jeremy Smalling and the HR people that have made that happen, Jeremy Smalling, Gina Larson, Beth Bentley. Am I missing Am I missing one? I think that's uh I think I got them all. What? >> No. >> I mentioned you. >> No. >> Oh. Just zip it. This is my time. >> [laughter] >> I'm reclaiming my time. But um I just I just want to thank you and I want to thank everybody for the

056work. Negotiating contracts isn't easy. It's hard. It's challenging. Don't break the place. Um It's It's a challenge to negotiate contracts, and nobody's ever 100% happy when they leave the table, but I think that's when you realize you reached a good agreement is everybody wishes they could have got something else or done something differently. And I think when both sides leave the table, that's important. So, I just want to thank GTA for the support over the years. This might be my last opportunity to thank you publicly, so I wanted to thank you, thank your team from GTA for the support over the years, and reaching these contract agreements. I appreciate that. >> No, I appreciate that, too. I I Thank you very much, and I think he needs a round of applause just because he's talking

057about us. >> [applause] >> Um but you you mentioned um the collaborative collaborative spirit, and I'll get into that, but I think it's the the want to not just do well by one group of people. You want to do well by many groups of people. And we've always been community-focused. We want to help out, obviously, primarily the students. We want to support the staff. We want to put something in place that's that's good for all. There's no interest in the GTA to cause financial harm on the school district. Like, we want us to succeed both. So, I really appreciate those words. Um I just take a few minutes. I want to thank my team. We had some of our team come here today. We got Steph Sul- Sullivan, the kid, Steph D'Amico, >> [laughter] >>

058and Chris Cappiello. Um the rest of the members couldn't attend tonight, but they were amazing. Um my least favorite part of this job is negotiations. I just It's not I don't mind doing it. It's just there's more important things. It sounds strange to say, but yes, we want to have a good contract, but we have day-to-day dealings that we want to really support, um but we get them both done. Um I want to thank the GCSD team, um phenomenal people, many of whom are here tonight. Um it was just uh it's a culmination of over a decade of working to make sure that we're kind of aligned, moving in the same direction. So, pretty proud of that. Um obviously, the Board of Ed in its entirety, but um the fact that Shawn, Tracy, and um

059Bill have been here for I think all of those contracts, which is pretty neat. I could be wrong, but that's pretty neat. And then the rest of you have been here for either two or one. And I really appreciate the support. Um I really enjoyed having a chance to work on the Code of Conduct Committee with Mark and Mary, and I I really enjoyed that. I think we we figured out like we're on the same page. We're going to keep on moving, and we're going to just build everybody in with us. So, I think that's pretty pretty special. So, I like that. >> [snorts] >> Um I just want to make sure I don't forget forget anybody. But, the the what the community might not understand is the thousands of pages that these people have

060to read on a voluntary basis to serve as your Board of Ed elected individuals is a lot. It's a it's a selfless job. They're doing this for the greater good, um not the benefit for themselves. No self-aggrandizement. And I just really appreciate that. I I hope to sometime, if I'm retired, serve in the same capacity cuz I think it's one of the best jobs you can do, helping students, supporting students in the district. Let's see here. Make sure I don't forget people. Um and I obviously, finally, uh huge thanks to Superintendent Smalling. I mean, we've been working on this collaboration thing for many, many years. Barb Barb was phenomenal. Kathy was was phenomenal as well, and Jeremy now has I think admittedly benefited from that work, but you've taken it to another level. So, I

061really appreciate that. I know that when we when we talk about things whether they're serious or not so serious, you you understand them. You believe, and I think that's the core principle to create even a better relationship moving forward. So, I my I hope my legacy when I'm gone is that that continues. Um and I'm sure it will on your end, and even some of your cabinet members who are a little sketchy. >> [laughter] >> Um no. You're You built You built a phenomenal cabinet. I couldn't ask for more, and I'm very very thankful that for them, but obviously it starts at your leadership. So, thank you very much. And then I guess lastly thanks to Shawn for I'll be here next meeting. I'll give I'll give you some more props. >> Oh, thank you.

062>> But >> I appreciate >> But yeah, I think you nailed it. So, it was probably what? 16 18 years ago or something we were talking about that we did the firefighter stuff. We did so much so much good work. Um starting with the firefighters, gathering the money to buy coats for kids, hats, gloves. Then we started out the music instrument drive, the um 529 incentive where we would match people's um uh initial payment. We did gosh, so much food shelf lots of different things. Eastman Dental, we got them in. It was just a lot of great collaboration, and it just really has propelled us to where we are now, and we have substantiated programs now that we we would have never had before. And that's really our goal is just have sustaining models that

063really affect Greece community and the students of course as our primary focus. So, I appreciate your collaboration, and I I'm just very thankful for all of you do. >> Thank you, President Hubertz. >> Thanks. Oh, here's my notes. >> And thank you for your team for attending. >> [applause] >> All right, next up we got 3.06, the GAFSA contract vote. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? Moved by Board Member Fallows around, seconded by Miss Board Member Farmer. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor. That passes unanimously 9 to 0. President Lowe, would you like to say a few words? >> I just want to good evening. My team, we all have kids and they have kid functions tonight, so I'm here representing us. I just want

064to say thank you first to the board for your overwhelming support. Um it this was our all three of us was our first time ever negotiating a contract. So, it was interesting. Um I do also want to thank Superintendent Smalley and his team because it was actually a very enlightening opportunity that we had. Um I actually felt very privileged to be representing um the GAFSA unit um and what was at stake for them with our contract. And what we had some very, very in-depth conversations, some difficult conversations, but they were also very enlightening. And it was it was very nice to see that both sides were willing to listen and collaborate and come away with a contract that I can say that the GAFSA membership overwhelmingly has been very appreciative of and is very supportive

065of and is also thankful for this entire community support. And we are looking forward to continuing that tradition on in the next several years. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, President Lowe. >> [applause] >> All right, moving on to business action. 6.01, the 2026-27 school bus bond resolution approval. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Mr. Maloney, second by Ms. Seaman. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to 0. Moving on to 6.02, appropriate fund balance transfer to level up capital projects resolution. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Ms. Seaman, second by Ms. Farmer. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Can I get a vote? All those in favor? That passes 9 to 0.

066All right, moving on to 6.03, non-district transportation requests updated. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Ms. Seaman, second by Ms. Lake. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to 0. Moving on to 6.04, tax certiorari settlement. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Mr. Maloney, second by Mr. Butler. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor? Yep. It's That passes 9 to 0. It's It's all in one. Yep. All right, moving on to business information, um anticipated bids. This is written information only. Are there any comments, questions, concerns on anticipated bids? Seeing none, moving on to 7.02, the budget and revenue status report. This is also written information only. Comments, questions, concerns

067on this? Seeing none, moving on to the consent agenda. Can I have someone bring the consent agenda to the table, please? First by Mr. Bonagurio, second by Ms. Farmer. Any comments, questions, concerns on the consent agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to 0. All right, moving on to program action, 9.01, the 2026-27 code of conduct approval. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Ms. Lake, second by Mr. Butler. Comments, questions, concerns on this? Mr. Bonaguria. >> I do have one or two questions. Um just uh >> Where is she? There she is. >> Um Dr. Baker, the the the example on page 12 is just a snippet of the page. Correct. That's not a full blown That's not the entirety of of the list of of

068uh behavioral violations and interventions and and consensus. I'm sorry. It's level for level two. Page 12. >> Yep, I'm on page 12. Yep, that's just a snippet from the actual page. The page that that actually lives on Um I can get that for you if you're looking for that. >> Not necessary. Just just wanted to make sure >> a snippet um just to show um an example of how we structured the document. >> Okay. Thank you. Um you referred to the dots some dots added um you said that uh the presence or absence of dots doesn't convey a loss of uh actionability. >> Yep. >> So might I understand that that preserves the potential for progressive discipline being applied in each of those any of those situations? >> Yep. So um there's a clause within

069the document that sort of states that contact like all of those things are considered in terms of contacts, in terms of prior incidents, the age of the student. Um so all of that's considered and so this document was uh is really an attempt to help us with a starting point and um we always have the discretion to go, you know, above or beyond um, where that lands. >> Thank you. I have one last question or comment. Does anyone else have any? I'll go to Ms. Like and then Okay. Mr. Bonfiglio. >> Okay. I just want to say thank you. Um, the good faith effort, I think on the part of and your part and Mr. Rona's and the whole It it was stealing from um, Mr. Ebert's. Uh, there was a ton of collaboration. I

070really appreciate the listening that that um, that went into all of that. I I I feel very good about this as being I I for me one step, first step in a in a process that uh, makes this much more accessible and effective, but a really good step. So, thank you. >> Thanks. >> Ms. Like. >> Um, the last point that Mark made, I feel very strongly about that. Um, I wasn't thinking about the collaboration, but the struggle and the difficult conversations. Um, but they were not lost because um, I think everything that all the themes that we identified were all evidenced in what you did with the um, the code of conduct changes and I just appreciate that so much and that can't wait to start working on it again in June. [laughter] It's

071been such fun. >> Thank you, Ms. Like. Any other comments, questions? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to 0. Congratulations. All right, moving on to Board of Education action, 11.01 2026-27 board meeting dates revised. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Miss Seaman, second by um Mr. Mr. Butler? >> Could be a silent >> Yeah, I don't know. My brain just went That's all right. Can I Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Yes, Miss Like. >> I thank you that we don't have a meeting on election day. I appreciate that. >> Oh, all right. Any other comments, questions, concerns? No? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to 0. All right, moving on to 11.02 certified bud- budget vote results from May 19th.

072Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Mr. Butler, second by Miss Falzarano. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor? That also passes 9 to 0. All right, moving on to the second read of policies. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Mr. Maloney, second by Miss Seaman. Um any comments, questions, concerns on the second read of policies? President McCabe. >> Yes, the policy committee met last week and went through these policies, discussed these policies, and they um adopted all the policies unanimously to be brought to the board for approval. >> Thank you, President McCabe. Any other comments, questions? Miss Like. >> I'd like to address I'd like to address one of the policies. The one >> to that. >> Okay.

073>> We're doing the other ones first and then that one separate. >> Yep. >> Sorry for >> That's okay. >> Any other comments, questions, concerns on the policies except for 7421. No? Okay. All those in favor? That passes 9-0. Now moving on to 11.04. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Mr. Bonagura, second by Ms. Lake. Ms. Lake, you had questions. >> Yes, I I was very disappointed when I read the policy. Um and I I think it shows how far we've gotten from the main thing. Um because this eligibility um just really doesn't seem to hold students accountable for their academic work and their progress. And when they I can't imagine as a parent saying to one of my kids, "Well, you're only failing one subject, so it's business

074as usual." Or you're failing two or more, so you know, you can go to your practices for baseball and and swimming, but you can't, you know, perform. Uh it just seems that we're sending the wrong message. And that is your academic performance isn't really that important. I think the district is amazing with the supports we have for kids who need it academically. Um I have a story about Danny. But I know I you don't have time for my Danny story, but it's about a student who I used to stay up at night when I would have to give him his grade. Because he came to class and he came prepared and he did the work, but it was so far below. But there's a there's a good ending to that story. But anyway, I I

075don't think we're helping kids by saying that you know, you can have your failing more than two subjects, you can have a week, 7 days, to get this back on track so that you don't lose your eligibility and you can fully participate. So, that's my concern. Um even if there were something where they were tracking, you know, from from week to week with with the classes that they're failing. Um but I don't see anything like that. So, um that's just upsetting to me. >> I'm going to have Deputy Superintendent Mark Fleming kind of respond and add some context to that. So, hopefully it'll clear up some of your concerns. >> Thank you, Ms. Lake. I appreciate the question. When looking at this policy and reviewing it, we worked with a number of different stakeholders within

076our system to really kind of dissect the language. We first pulled districts throughout the county and found that our policy was as stringent if not more so than other districts in the county. So, out of 10 districts that responded, nine of them allow students to participate when they have one F. And we have eight out of 10 that allow them to practice while they're ineligible. I think your concerns are are valid. The theory of action that those districts operate under that we're operating under is that when students are failing classes, two or more, and we allow them to continue to practice, that really allows them allows us to keep them under our wing. So, coaches, the athletic director, the athletic TOSA, very involved in how those students are doing. If we cut them off from

077the extracurricular activity, then we find that we lose them and the likelihood that they're are to fail more classes or not write the ship for the classes they are failing, that likelihood increases. We also have evidence from from student surveys and interviews that when students are told that you can't play at all even with one F, that often times they'll say, "Well, I can manage five out of my six classes. This one class is really stubborn and there's times where I'm bordering between a D and an F and if this means I can't play at all, then then I'm not going to play." And then we again we lose that same opportunity to mentor them and counsel them along the way. We also wanted to keep in mind as well that we're pulling grades at

0785 weeks, 10 weeks and that's one snapshot, one moment in time. So, all of those were considerations and why we ultimately landed on this particular rule. >> Do you want to talk about cuz I know Mr. Lake mentioned some of the tracking and so I think there's some more within that system that I think ties to what you were saying as well. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, our athletic TOSAs, they're pulling those grades and looking at them weekly. While that's not enumerated within the policy, that's work that they undertake themselves in preparation for that 5 week and 10 week pull. So, they're keeping an eye on and letting students know, "Hey, that 5 week pull, that 10 week pull is coming. So, you're going to want to make sure that you write the ship." And then

079they're also of course, as it says in the policy, providing that layer of support, making sure they're going to those mandated study halls to make sure that they that they do the work to get back on track. >> Mark, are you seeing a number of the athletes really improving their grades and moving through this to a graduation that leads to something positive. >> I can So, we worked this reworked this policy 18 months ago, brought you an iteration that's a little more bare-bones than what you see in front of you. It comes up for yearly review, so we got to work on it right away in late fall. Uh and I check in with the athletic directors monthly. And I can And the TOSes, I can tell you unequivocally that this has been our most

080robust policy that we have ever had within the district, and that we are seeing students that are adhering to the standard that we have set, if not exceeding it. That's because I think the language has improved and gotten so strong. I think it's also a testament to our athletic TOSes and the work that they're doing in that weekly tracking. Um you'll notice as well the language calls out summer school, and we inserted that into the policy update last year. So, we had students who play football, for instance. No one was looking at their grades from June, right? So, they could try out, they could play. The first time their grades were being checked was in the middle of the first quarter, when that football season is almost over. Basketball players, however, though, they have seven,

081eight weeks of grades from the start of the school year that they're being held accountable for. So, they were being disproportionately affected by a policy that didn't take into account um grades from the previous year. So, football players now need to make sure I need to make sure I do my work in fourth quarter, uh because if I want to play football next year, they're looking at my grades now. And that messaging went home in the spring of '25, and we saw a lot more students that were eligible as a result of that. So, the language is much more robust, and it really is leading to improved academic outcomes for our student athletes. >> Well, you did it again. I had no intention of voting yes for this. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, Ms. Like.

082>> Thank you, Dean. >> Sorry to disappoint you. >> [laughter] >> No. Thank you, Mark. Mr. Bonagura. >> So So, if I may direct my questions to uh Mr. Fleming. With given that there is that warning that this marking period update is coming, why wouldn't that be sufficient? You they have that warning. Get your grades up because when that when when that marking period comes along, you have no excuse. >> Mhm. >> So, it seems like that explanation it's it's a good strategy because the the goal isn't to block anyone out, but it seems to undermine the the the validity of the argument. >> All right, that's an interesting argument. I think part of my response I would first start off by saying that we're talking about dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of athletes

083in a given season, right? So, that notion of the warning, I can go at three or four weeks and say, "Hey Johnny, you have an F right now, right?" But that doesn't mean that midway through that fifth week just before grades are reported that someone drops from a C down to an F. Um you know, and this is something we could get into a lot of a lot go down a rabbit hole around teacher grading uh and when grades are reported, when assignments are inputted. We don't have regimented well, every Tuesday, every Thursday, every Friday, you've got to put in your grades. That's not something that the teachers union in any district has ever agreed to. Uh so, we are we are at the mercy of when teachers decide to put in grades, update grades,

084our TOS their effort or their ability to look at grades is completely reliant upon what a staff of 100 teachers is putting into a system and when those individual teachers decide to do that. So, I think that undercuts the idea of well at week four, you had all D's or all C's and there's no reason why you shouldn't have maintained that for a week because at any moment's notice an assignment could be put in and suddenly that changes. And that and and that leaves students at the mercy of timing on the part of teachers. >> I accept your answer. I don't I'm not necessarily persuaded by it but I I accept that. >> Fair enough. >> I I I do have a follow-up but let's um >> [clears throat] >> so, the the second paragraph

085under under section well, the first section A uh in season eligibility eligibility, it says the student will be placed in a mandatory study hall when offered by the school and will be ineligible for a minimum of 7 days. So, I'm assuming that the mandatory study hall is intended to help get the student back into good academic [snorts] standing. >> That's correct. >> But, it's only when offered by the school. So, help me fill that in. >> Sure, absolutely. So, all of our school all of our secondary schools our high schools offer AIS and remedial periods during the school week. In addition to that so, there's times that's referring to that time. It's also referring to time after school. So, it's we're fairly certain that we can guarantee that something like that would be available on

086a Monday, on a Wednesday, on a Thursday. Tuesday is staff meeting day at a high school. Sometimes it's difficult to do that. Sometimes we can flex a TA or a non-teacher that has to attend a staff meeting and have them run that particular after-school study hall. Same with a Friday. We can't necessarily require that a staff member stay after school and offer that particular study hall, but there are times when we can do that as well. So, that's what that language is intended to capture. So, when the school is able to offer it based on staffing, based on the schedule, that's when the student would be expected to go to that particular study hall for that 7-day period. >> [clears throat] >> I have another question or but >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Actually not

087a question. I'm going to just reference prior history. A long time ago, when I was in school. >> Mhm. >> Um and we had a policy that said any student that didn't have a C average wasn't eligible >> Mhm. >> for sports or other extracurricular activity. Um I suppose you could have an F in one grade, but you're doing well enough >> Mhm. >> across the board. This doesn't give any indication of that. It says if you don't have an F, you might have all D's and an F. >> Mhm. >> So, I think there's some merit to looking at a different approach that might be more holistic rather than identifying the lowest possible outcome on one one class. Um and I would ask for more insight into the research that uh uh, substantiates this

088this policy. Uh, I appreciate the references to, um, other districts around the county. Uh, I don't necessarily care about the, you know, what the common denominator is or and how low it might go. Um, I I want to see strong, uh, supports for our students. So, uh, I would hope we can see some of that supporting data. Um, I mean, this I'll leave it there. >> Superintendent Smalley. >> Um, couple things. Um, I think it's how we look at extracurriculars and athletics and the purpose of why we have them in our schools. Um, you know, when I was an athlete in high school, I I saw, you know, athletics was because I was going to go play college football. Right? That's what it did for me. What I didn't know at the time is the

089person, what I learned through that, playing that sport, of what it what it did for me beyond the field. I don't know that at that time. You ask our kids right now, they want to play NBA or or NFL. What I know about our extracurriculars is it hits the skills that sometimes our classrooms don't have. Um, it keeps kids engaged. This is not about trying to win sectionals. I want to be clear. This is not about trying to be have winning teams and keep our best athletes on the field. What this policy is meant to do, cuz Mark the point that Mark made is really, really important, that when you thinking of abs, you know, you're thinking about a moment in time before the marking period's over. It's not a fine It's not that it's

090a they got an F necessary on their report card. If you take football season for that example, it's a moment in time, which by the way, my son is going to U of R, at one moment in time just recently, he was failing his stats class. I said, "I'm playing a spring sport." But, that was the time of the grade, the struggle that he had on that assignment, and that the ability to get that grade back up because it was a moment in time. That's the That's the window that we're talking about. So, it's it's they dip for that time, and then the student has that ability to get that up. That's why I think the one makes sense. But, I think the bigger picture is that we got to remember is is that for

091some kids, this is the one hook that keeps them coming. This is their one opportunity to be with friends, and be a part of something larger than the classroom, or just being at home by themselves playing video games, which nothing's wrong with it if that's what they choose to do, but it's an isolation. This is the hook that makes a difference in kids' lives. That's how we see this. I just want to be clear, this is not about winning sectionals, or our best athlete being on the field. It's about keeping our kids kids engaged. And And so, yes, we don't like if one it's I don't think it's that we're saying, "Oh, it's okay, you're just failing one." I don't think that's the look that we're having when we do this. It was in that

092in that one class, you have you're allowed to slip for a little while, um and then have the ability to get it back up and continue to play. That's what that's there's for. That's that That's what it's That's the purpose of one F is that they're kids, and they might slip in one class on one assignment, and that's when that one grade is in at that period of time. So, I just say all that cuz it's very tricky the way grades go in, and I know, you know, Mark, when you were saying like, you I know if that uh like when Mark gave his argument, you heard him, but not sure if that it really is the issue with timing. Uh when when one grade goes in for what a teacher, that could be the

093one grade that went in compared to others. And at that last moment in time before that quarter happens. So, it's tricky, but I just want to be clear why we want that one off, why we see that, and really what we're trying to get out of extra the interscholastic extracurricular. It's some of those kids need that hook more than we know. >> Thank you, Superintendent Smalley. Mr. Van Gourio. >> I have another question. That was So, that was regarding the academic requirement. I have a question regarding um the acceptable attendance and behavior requirement, because there's no definition given to that. Do we Do we have a a standard of attendance and an acceptable standard of attendance and behavior? >> There's not a particular number of days that we assign in terms of what the expectation

094is for how many days you need to be present in school, but the athletic directors, the coaches all review attendance to make sure that students are coming to school. If they're not coming to school, then they're not going to be able to play. Behavior as well without specifying what particular infraction leads to a student being benched or removed from the team. That's all woven into consulting the code of conduct and and making calls based on the severity of a particular infraction. >> I'd like to make a motion to insert language uh that the um I don't know who it would be, but whoever is responsible for this policy I'm not finding it right now, but uh that uh that some some definition of acceptable attendance and behavior, as we know that it's been that's been

095an issue. Uh I don't know who who the what the behavior um characteristics look like of any any students, but there should I would think there should be some definition. I'd like to make a motion that we insert some definition of that. Not in this policy today, but that we write in that in going forward this this policy will also adopt uh a standard for attendance and behavior. And I assume there's always a review of the academic uh goals as well. So, >> No, go ahead. >> No, go don't I'm sorry. You're running this, not me. >> So, if if I understand you correctly, you want to make a motion to add language into the policy that >> that that that the superintendent in charge of this policy or however that might be written uh

096propose language for a definition or standard of acceptable attendance and behavior. >> Alex, what would you recommend? >> [laughter] >> Um it would well, first of all, it does say at the bottom that the uh deputy superintendent is the one responsible for uh this policy this particular policy. Um in So, the board member is saying that part of the um review every year, I believe it was. Yeah, every year you want the um you want it to be reviewed that uh the attendance policy be reviewed every year is what you want, or do you want you want a definition of it? >> for a proposal on us for a standard of attendance and behavior. >> So, basically to um expand upon it just saying acceptable attendance and behavior. >> Correct. >> Um it would probably

097be best to make the amendment having the actual language in that. Um so, that would you would probably want an actual amendment um on the floor to put in the exact language right there rather than just saying uh that it needs to be done. >> Thank you, Alex. Mr. Maloney, real quick. >> Uh Mr. Vice President, um he did say he did want to make a motion, so if he wanted to >> he does have the floor now. >> If Yeah, if if he wants to yield, or or if he wants to make the motion. >> Do I get a chance to speak or not? >> You you will, I promise. >> Okay. If you're going to offer some advice, I'd love to hear it. >> [laughter] >> Well, well, I just didn't know whether

098where you meant the 26th or the 27th, 28th coming upcoming. >> Upcoming is what I'm referring to, not So, >> talking the 27th or 28th when they sit down and redo this. In the next review. >> Yes, in the next review. >> next review of this policy. So, if I'm going to try to do this on the fly, um but um um an amendment reading >> 10 minutes. >> the deputy superintendent will propose language for a standard of attendance and behavior. >> And uh where would you like that, board member? >> Right after that state that clause in item B. >> So, uh it would be acceptable attendance and behavior, and the deputy superintendent shall review this every year. Okay. And you would need a second on that, Mr. Vice President. >> Do we have

099a second on Ms. Like? Comments, questions, concerns on the amendment? Mr. Butler? >> Can I hear what the amendment is again? Or what Yeah, how So, how the policy would read now according to the amendment that's being proposed? >> That the amend the language currently reads item B, acceptable attendance and behavior, and then I would ask to be added that the deputy superintendent will propose a standard of attendance and behavior an acceptable standard for attendance and behavior for in for future policy reviews. >> So, for future policy reviews I see >> So, we could we can vote on this one today without knowing what that is, but in the future a proposal will be made defining what the standard of attendance and behavior is. >> It feels to me a little bit out of place

100to have a policy that's supposed to guide our behavior that casts forward into the future something that we're going to do later. I understand I think I understand what you want Mark I and I appreciate that you're not trying to hold this up from being approved tonight by because you're saying somebody needs to do some research, think about this more, come up with what that acceptable standard is. And I wonder if that could be accomplished without it without having to put some language into the policy that we're approving tonight because that just feels like it's not germane to the policy. The topic is is the same and I think to say we'd like to hear at a later date something about this. I think we've got the relationship with the administration that says if we

101ask you for this information and ask you to think about this question that's that's been raised here tonight that they will do that. But I don't see how we can put something in the policy that is I think going to be it's talking about a policy that doesn't exist yet cuz it's next year's policy not this year's policy. >> Yeah. >> I take that as a statement not a question. I I unless you >> Yeah, I'm I'm just discussion. Yeah. >> Ms. Like >> Ted I kind of got me thinking and also what you just said Mark um and that might be that um we get some data based on those two areas with how that's being applied um as the year progresses. Is that something that would be helpful? How it's being interpreted and

102implemented. You know, like how many times um that was brought up and >> Or or maybe at least hear from some coaches, some some athletic directors that said this is how I use this that's in the policy right now to manage uh particular situations with individual athletes. >> Superintendent Smalley. >> I just want to clarify what we're trying to do. Um I'll give a real quick example of what I'm fearful of, understanding the points you're making. I just dealt with a significant issue with a student who was struggling to come in school, had some significant mental health issues. Counselor pushed that she try out for the track team. Just as a way to get involved. Um wasn't a not a track star of anything, but it was a way to get her involved. That In

103that case, this is a student that was struggling to come to school and it was a hook that he that this counselor was trying to do to help a student in some significant need. I just want to be careful that we don't create a policy that's going to now not allow a student like that to be a part of a team. Um cuz I think sometimes we have in our head, and maybe this is just me, is that this is for a specific athletes that are trying to get away with things or star athletes, I mentioned that before, that we're trying to keep on the field. I just want to be careful when we put those clear black and white rules in there, what is cuz we can't we got to follow it. So, there's

104no ex you know, we can't have all those Oh, well, this one's different than this one and this So, if we're going to say that if a student has to maintain an attendance policy, which I understand your point, which is generally what the coaches are able to handle individually found their team. But, if I'm going to put one in a policy, that's going to apply to that one student that we're trying to pull in to get engaged at just trying out a different sport to maybe make get some friends who's on that team now as a intervention to some extent who may struggle so come to school. But, the last thing we want to do is say, "Sorry, we tried it. You're not coming." You know, when there is some growth with there. So, there

105isn't a factor when we make those rules because we get put in spots as as a as cabinet of trying to think of all the exceptions. And then it becomes a useless rule like it's Well, that we don't mean it for that one. We meant it for this one. But, if it's going to be a policy that's attendance and and whatever it is with the code of conduct, we got to be ready to then say that's for everybody. And I think it could do some unintended harm outside of what our coaches are are already doing to manage that. It's just a side that I didn't see so much until I had this meeting that like it popped into my room this conversation about some of the way we use some of these sports to to

106try to as a hook to get some kids in. It's not just our you know, star basketball or baseball player or whatever it may be. So, just something to think about with those kind of predetermined metrics. >> President McCabe? >> Yep, I got a couple things. Um So, in regards to the amendment that we're talking about here, acceptable attendance and behavior, um from an attendance standpoint, I mean, the luxury of having three former principals on cabinet is that I have three principals in the room at the high school level that can answer hopefully answer this question is that if you're not in school for a certain amount of time you can't even practice you can't play like you can't be absent on game day and participate in the game is that correct? Okay and from

107a behavior standpoint and I'm going to put the three of you on the spot a little bit but from my experience it's been a better avenue for teachers to address a behavior concern with the coach that's in the building and say hey coach Smalley Sean's been a jerk in my class and then coach Smalley yanked me aside at practice and says Sean I understand you've been giving Mr. Fleming a problem in class it's way better than the assistant principal dealing with the behavior issue when the coach knows and the coach deals with it. I mean I had a great coach at football at Greece Olympia way back in the day we had leather helmets the whole nine yards back then but George Giordano was that way. I mean he would track you down in the

108hallway and say I understand you didn't have your homework done today in biology you didn't have this done and that had way more impact than going to the assistant principal doing anything else. I mean I get where you're trying to go with this Mark but I think these this attendance and behaviors already built in and we're trying to put a number on something I agree with Jeremy that if we're putting a number on this this isn't the way to do it. I think the system we have is working. I mean this is probably and Mark you could probably help me with this I don't know what iteration of this policy we're at this has been a policy in the district for a bit of time we've worked on it we've crafted it we've you know

109added this year we added some of the you know musicals etc. and some other clubs and you know in the future we're looking at adding other extracurriculars to be part of this policy and I think a lot of that makes a difference and I think that interpersonal relationship where the teacher has a conversation with a coach I know my wife did it. She had a student in basketball. She went to coach Satcher at Athena, had a conversation with coach Satcher. Never had a problem again with the student. I mean, he was on time, he was this, he was that, he was doing his work. It was great. So, I do think that system is built in the play, and I think we can tear apart any policy and micromanage it to death, but I don't

110think that's what we're looking to do here. So, I mean, that's that's just my take on it. >> Mr. Warrior. >> I appreciate the input. Uh I will withdraw my motion. And we can proceed. >> All right. So, now we're back to the policy at hand. All right. The Alec, I don't know how you Alec, how you keep up with that cuz it's all over the place, but here we are. All right. So, with that said, is there any other further discussion on this particular policy? Seeing none, all those in favor. Mark, are you You're out? All right. Are you out, Mary? Oh, you're in? So, you're not? All right. So, that passes 8 to 0. >> 8 to 1. >> Oh, sorry. 8 to 1. Thank you. It's been a long day, people. All

111right. No, I'm kidding. All right. Moving on to Board of Education Information and Board Committee Reports. Um Bilingual Program Advisory Council Report. Miss Felzerano, you're up. >> Okay. So, some positive news coming from the dual language Spanish program. Um there are efforts being made to extend the influence of the program throughout the school, which is at English Village. One way this is being accomplished is by posting signs at uh in EV in Spanish to increase awareness and familiarity with um the language for the whole school. There are also increased efforts to bring Hispanic Heritage Cultural Events uh programming to the entire school, as well as plans to build community awareness through the news media, parent bulletins, et cetera. Um, the students enrolled in the programs in grades, uh, kindergarten and first are making, uh, really

112good gains as reported by their teachers. Um, achievement data for literacy in both languages. Now, remember, in the bilingual program, the children are being, um, charted in both their first language, if it's English or Spanish, if that's their first language, as well as the opposite or their new language. So, they're being charted in both and the, uh, results are looking very promising, if not impressive. Um, specific data will be shared at a later date by the program director, Shauna Sweet, but it's all looking very, very, very promising and it's amazing. Uh, the program is currently in the recruitment phase to seat students in the program for next fall. Um, there's also posting for a bilingual, uh, teacher and overall interest in the program as community and parents become more apprised of it are it's increased.

113The advisory council also irregularly anchors into a resource called guiding principles for dual language. It's a rubric's guide that, um, helps to direct conversations among the council members so they could they could measure themselves and say, "Where are we meeting expectations in conducting a dual language program and where is are are there opportunities, um, for growth?" All of that to say it's again very reflective and it's important for them as a team to be able to assess where they are. The other thing we, um, that's new this year and recently I shared that we recently passed the threshold for the Arabic language. So, now this particular advisory council, um, is also planning how we will meet the state requirement and this past spring, um, the team put together four focus groups to gather information and

114input from parents whose first language is their students' our first language is English, staff, um, parents whose children speak Arabic and also community members at large and each group expressed really good strong support for such a program. What it will look like um, is still under review, but there are plans to put something in place in the fall so that students whose first language is Arabic will have that support to build their literacy as per New York State. And they're really their mantra is how to go slow to go fast. So, they're taking it easy, but they want to be able to to see some gains quickly. >> Thank you, Ms. Felzerano. All right, 12.02 Communications Committee Report, Mr. Butler. >> Uh, I don't have a report tonight. >> Culture and Climate Committee Report, Secondary,

115Ms. Like. >> Well, their committee is not meeting to my knowledge. However, um, from the design day that we had, a lot is going on involving middle and high school under secondary to align the Leader in Me with the Portrait of a Graduate. And it looks like a lot more buy-in on the secondary level, so I believe that is going on. Yes. Okay. And Code of Conduct has a separate committee for secondary and they've been meeting. >> Thank you, Ms. Like. District or excuse me, District School Improvement Team or DIT Report, Ms. Farmer. >> Thank you. Um, we met on May 14th and we discussed in whole and small group about committee structures for decision-making, which includes the District Improvement Team, the Decision-Making Advisory Council and the School Improvement Teams. It was um, it was

116good to hear the um, a lot of agreement in terms of things that we felt were very well without the the room. And some questions, similar questions regarding um I see you out there, regarding how information is being passed and is it being done in a way where everyone who is um needing or wanting to know understands how this whole uh decision-making sharing is is happening. And then we heard from um Brandon Jones regarding a portrait of a graduate, which is at its beginning stages. The work is being discussed. And there, you know, there were some um ideas regarding uh making uh connections between 9th and 12th attribute connected to what uh Mary just said regarding the Leader in Me and how that will move up. And after hearing from the kids tonight from Odyssey

117>> [clears throat] >> working on their um AP research class, um it sounds like and and the two college students, the ones who's graduated and the one who's uh got a what, another year, sounds like we have a lot of similarities there, that a lot of possibilities, I should say, between the two, what the AP uh uh research class looks like and what the um portrait of a graduate could look like. And next meeting is uh June 17th, I believe. >> Thank you, Ms. Farmer. All right, moving on to graduation measures committee report, Ms. Felterano. >> Thank you. Um a little bit of overlap here from our board members Alike and Farmer in that the graduation measures group met on May 19th. The meeting was led by Todd Smith and he shared that while there

118were no new updates from the state, our district continues to move forward to inform staff, students, and families about the New York Inspires initiative and the portrait of a graduate. Uh to that end, students at Arcadia High School under the supervision of Mark Hilburger have produced an informational video that will be shared within the next month to get people more up to speed on what that is all about. In summary, what is the portrait of a graduate? It is a four-year It is four years of student life. It's an extension of our We call our current senior portfolio in that it represents a student's body of work from grades 9 through 12 and how they will demonstrate this learning really with the identified attributes is our challenge right now. How will we meet those requirements

119as set forth by the state? It is a challenge of logistics and scheduling and work continues by our curriculum leaders to review the current ninth grade courses to see where we have some common alignment already to help meet some of those attributes. And that's a starting point. We are required to have a plan in place by fall of 2027. Eventually, these expectations will also be reflected in our strategic plan or new plan and there will be steps taken to build a bridge to secondary schools taking our Leader in Me initiative that's already in place in our elementary buildings because there is quite a bit of alignment again from the Leader in Me and how it pairs with the attributes for the portrait of a graduate. Student voice is also critical in the development of the

120plan and I will say that on Friday, May 22nd, the district held a student summit with over 100 students to collect information and thoughts as to what skills students should have upon graduation. I was joined by board members like and farmer to hear responses from students that were both reflective and also future-focused. Very uplifting. A wonderful opportunity for students to have their voices heard. And kudos to those who helped plan Ms. Torana and Dr. Baker and your team. Amazing work on Friday with the kids. So I I think our future is in good hands. >> Thank you, Ms. Felzerano. All right, moving on to parent advisory leadership council report, Ms. Seaman. >> Yeah. So, our meeting on May 13th was canceled to give a little bit more time to our subcommittees. We'll be meeting again

121in 2 weeks on June 10th. >> Thank you for that update, Ms. Seaman. All right, moving to executive session. This is 14.01. Can I have someone bring that to the table, please? First by Ms. Seaman, second by Mr. Maloney. All those in favor? That passes while Todd's not here. So, 8 to 0. All right, so we're going to move on into executive session. Um Behind the scenes. Thank you. >> And so to discuss the employment history of a particular person. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Yep.