001Allegiance 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. Can I move the agenda table, please? Moved by Mr. Butler, second by Mr. Stencil. Any comments, questions, additions, deletions to the agenda. Um, I got a couple things. I'm going to remove 3.04, 04 the GUS MOA on tuition reimbursement and I'm going to add after um after the union comments the GTA gas law so I'm going to add the power of partnership award that'll become 1.07 and then residence forum will move to 1.08 all those in favor of the agenda as amended that passes nine to zero 1.05 Joe, the seal of biiteracy recognition. Hi, I'm Shauna Suite. I'm from the department of multilingual education
002and I'm so happy to be uh recognizing our seal of biiteracy and pry students tonight which you'll learn a little bit more about. The New York State Seal of Biiteracy recognizes high school students who have attained a high level of proficiency in English and one or more world languages. Successful candidates will earn three points in English and three points in each world language from a points matrix which includes course grades, national and state exams, transcripts, and culminating projects that are presented to a panel of reviewers. Approximately 85 students presented their world language culminating projects at our third annual district seal of biiteracy presentation day on May 1st. Students presented in languages they learned in school or a language they speak at home or in the community. Over 15 languages were represented this year including Amharic,
003Arabic, ASL, French, German, Haitian Creole, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrina, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. Uh, we want to congratulate all of the candidate candidates, including those being recognized tonight. So, I'm going to call up a sampling of our students who have presented for the seal. Um, from Arcadia High School, we have Jenna OD for Arabic. And we also have and Llaya Burke for Italian. From Olympia, we have Charlanne Cortez Garcia for Spanish, Tiara Morabel for Spanish, and Yan Yandelle Jose Grano Deoro Kalcano also for Spanish. And from Odyssey, we have Gerene Cower for Punjabi. and Mary Grace Odara for Swahili. So, we want to recognize all of our SEAL students and I'm going to move on for Pryli. So, PRILi. Um, so students of Hispanic and Latino descent are invited to participate
004in New York State's Puerto Rican Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute, also known as PRYI. Over the course of six months, these students study topics focused on leadership development, civic engagement, and democracy. These sessions help our students to understand New York State government, the legislative process, parliamentary procedure, public speaking, debating selected assembly bills. The pry curriculum course modules are aligned to the New York State Next Generation ELA standards and social studies framework and can be used to fulfill requirements for the New York State Seal of Biiteracy and Civic Readiness. So, PRLI students work in regional delegations to focus on and identify research of local issues, study the New York State legislative process, parliamentary procedure, and selected bills. The regional delegation had opportunities to learn from in-person interactions with New York State Assembly and Monroe County legislature members.
005Selected delegates are invited to attend a three-day institute in Albany where students from around the state participate in a mock assembly session which is conducted in the New York State Assembly Chamber with keynote speakers and career development workshops. Two students from Greece we're proud to share uh were chosen for the Albany Institute. Charlie N. Cortez Garcia from Olympia and Yandel Jose Grano Deoro Pelano from Odyssey. So at the Mach assembly, Charlie and Yandelle represented Assembly Member Josh Jensen. They took their responsibility seriously and proudly represented the Monroe delegation in Albany. Um, I just wanted to point out in the photo you'll see Yondell at the Monroe County Legislature um at the desk of the Mr. Shawn McCabe, which I was really excited to see that. Um, so I think you'll you'll be next in his
006seat when he retires. Um, the select outstanding student delegates attend educational field trips where the outstanding student delegates have the opportunity to visit Washington DC andor Puerto Rico where students um and visit elected officials and share issues that directly affect their communities. And we're very proud to share that Charlanne was awarded as outstanding delegate last year and she was able to attend the pry trip to Puerto Rico where she had the opportunity to meet the speaker of the assembly and visit government offices. So you can see Charlene in the photo. We're very proud that one of our students was selected to represent New York State. So we we want to thank our partners at Monroe 2 Bosey's Midwest Arbor um the Greece transportation department and all of the administrators um and teachers who support these
007initiatives and Anna Stukes um from Boseies who's here tonight. So thank you. Do you guys all mind coming up and doing a picture with the board and with the superintendent's cabinet? That would be great. What is she doing? He sat at the lunch. We back up a little bit. Let's back up. Tall people in the back, short people in the front. Mr. Loy needs you up front. jam. We like each other. I'm so sorry. My phone did an update last night. Thank you everyone. All right, Mr. Eert, it's your time to shine. And that's a that's a hard one to follow. Um, it's so great to see all student activity when we come up here for the board meeting, but that one's really near and dear. So, thank you, Shauna, for all you're doing. Um,
008we know it's it's not just you. It's a team effort. So, we really appreciate it. Um, thanks to the board for letting me speak tonight. Excuse me. Um, and thanks for the opportunity to share what the Greece teachers association has been working on to support our students, school staff, and community. So, May is a very important month in the school year. Our dedicated teachers have invested significant time in preparing students for the various state and local tests, which they love. Not really. It's an opportunity to see the results of our work since September. It's an opportunity to watch kids really show what they know. This year, we've implemented a new ELA curriculum at the K8 level, and we look forward to seeing how this may have impacted our results on these assessments. May is also
009an opportunity for the community to weigh in on our schools through the budget and board of election vote. The Greece Teachers Association has long thought it important we share teachers views on these critical votes with the community as we are some of the people with the clearest view of what's going on in our schools. We take this role seriously. This year, our teachers worked alongside members from four other Greece unions to interview candidates, discuss their candidacies, and ultimately make recommendations to our members and the community for GTA. The recommendations were then unanimously approved by teachers serving in our representative assembly. These are teachers who volunteer their time outside of work hours to do this important work and I'd like to thank them. It's unfortunate that sometimes we hear people claim that these decisions are made
010by union leadership without input from our members, meaning me. This simply isn't true. There were no members of our executive leadership council on the interview committee, nor did they have a vote during our representative assembly. That includes me. Don't vote. And then we stay right out of it. These recommendations are made and supported by teachers working in our schools full-time every single day. The outpouring of offers from our teachers to help spread our endorsements tells me that a majority of our members really support our work. Lastly, as part of this work, we encourage every person we talk to to vote yes on the district's budget. That's our opinion. That's our view. We always want to support our district. Our district is doing many great things and we want them to be able to continue to
011provide quality education and resources to the children that call this community home. Unfortunately, this is related to another common misconception which is that our union only cares about teachers and not about our students, schools, parents, and the community. I think some people may feel this way because when they hear the word union, they think of the old industrial concept of unions, labor negotiation with management for a contract and making sure that the contract is enforced, which of course we do. That old model does not reflect what all of the Greece teachers association has done and has involved into evolved into. Do we care about negotiating a fair contract for our members and making sure its agreements are enforced? Absolutely. But we also care about the success of our schools, making sure the voices of all
012stakeholders are listened to and valued. And we want to see our community thrive. Throughout the year, we have have our members address the board and share individual union initiatives. I want to share them all at once tonight because I think this demonstrates our commitment to the success of Greece schools and our community. And everything I'm about to mention is something that we do because it's important, not because we are required nor mandated. Since the year 2000, the GTA has partnered with our school communities to collect over 134,000 pounds of food and over $10,000 donated to the Greece ecumenical food shelf, a a food shelf that is immensely important to our community. Over the past 43 years, GTA has awarded what is now known as the Warren Crannle GTA Scholarship to approximately 300 Greece students pursuing
013careers in education and graduation. These scholarships have totaled over4 million dollars to date. Since starting the coats for kids initiative alongside the Ridge Road firefighters in 2016, we've purchased $56,000 plus worth of winter coats for Greece students who need them. The GTA has contributed $4,000 in matching initial funds to Greece families that have established a 529 college and career savings account. We've established a 501c3 notfor-profit arm of the GTA called Greece teachers community programs to allow us to fund school projects. Greece teachers currently contribute around $1,300 a month to the GC GTCP which has given out over $23,000 in classroom grants just since 2018. And these could just be for regular grants, whatever they need in the classroom. But really, we primarily try to target the newer members into teachings because obviously they might have
014a financial situation that's different from someone who's been teaching for 30 years. Our teachers also contribute to the Greece Education Foundation and United Way campaigns. We've partnered with the district to reduce the burden of purchasing school supplies on families, distributed thousands of free books to students and run musical instrument donation drives to support our music programs. We have worked with the district to establish ongoing proactive mechanisms to develop solutions to problems. In recent years, this approach has led us to hundreds of Greece teachers engaging with district leadership on topics such as the code of conduct, shared decision-making, and implementing successful professional learning communities to improve student outcomes. I sincerely hope it's clear that we care about our students, schools, and the success of our community. More than 400 of our roughly 1150 GTA members live
015in Greece. It's in their and all of our members interests that our schools are successful. places of learning. Our own children, my own children attend Greece schools. All of many of our members attend Greece schools. Personally, I've lived here all of my life. Attended Greece schools made it very uncomfortable for my parents. Talking to some of my teachers in the past. Um, and we now probably have three kids, two of whom have already gone through Gree schools and one is a junior hoping to finish. Um, we want parents as partners and we value their insights into ch their children. We also recognize that many families face challenges in finding the time to fully engage with their children's teachers and schools. There are needs in Greece that didn't exist 25 years ago. And as a Greece
016student, many more years than that, it's it's true further and further back you go. We need to face that reality head on and move forward to working together to make our schools work for our community today. So to wrap things up, I will simply say we care. We care about how our schools function. We celebrate the many amazing opportunities our schools provide and continue to engage with all our stakeholders to improve the challenges we face. And there are challenges. So when we share our endorsements for board candidates with the community, I hope voters will consider the entire con context of how we function as a union. Our purpose is not just to advocate on behalf of teachers, but also work on behalf of the entire community. We encourage all community members to vote on May
01720th in support of the school budget and for board candidates who they judge are ready to meet the need of our community. We hope you'll consider our input when making that decision. I really appreciate the time. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Keon, you're up. Gas, welcome this evening. Slides that are coming up. Are there slides that are coming up? In theory. Nope. I can wing it. All right. Good evening, everyone. Uh my name is Dan Keelon. I'm the proud principal of Hols Road Elementary School. Uh I'm going to utilize my time tonight to speak on behalf of my GASA colleagues uh about school improvement goal number two. That's about our professional learning communities uh or PLC's that we've been working so diligently on all year. Um, and it's really the work
018uh in our schools that's happening around guiding coalitions. Um, I'd like to take a moment though to recognize our teachers in Gree Central. Uh, and our it's also um nurse recognition as well tomorrow. Uh, and certainly um want to take a moment to uh recognize our dedicated staff at Homes Road uh as well as our nurses. Um, I did have a picture of our guiding coalition. Uh, so uh thanks to all of our teachers and nurses, of course. uh I posed a question to uh my principal colleagues and that question was how are you analyzing data and utilizing that data to create goal number two for your 2526 school year. So taking a look at how this year went how are you utilizing data to inform our practices and and um oops I'm sorry I'm
019pressing uh for some of our data into next school year. Um so reaching out to my colleagues in GASA um my colleague Anitra at Brookside the principal at Brookside uh she stated that she has surveyed her staff and when surveying the staff um she asked questions uh for each staff member to rate their teams in the following manner it was about guiding coalition's reflection on the current state of of PLC's um using the survey data oh there we go thank you utilizing there's the picture of uh our awesome guiding coalition working at uh some of our release days this year and really super engaged in that guiding coalition work. U going back to our Brookside survey. So uh areas of focus for the 2526 school year uh using the results of that survey to help
020them with their results. Uh initial focus for next year is going to be on building trust. Anra stated that there is some fluctuation uh among PLC's and different members of that PLC. So starting with trust building exercises in the beginning uh they are utilizing the DEOR's big three ideas and four questions uh for all for everyone to have a collective understanding. uh my colleague Brandon at uh Olympia Middle School and High School. Uh their guiding coalition is is leading staff professional learning on professional learning communities this year. And some of those topics have included the three big ideas of PLC work, focus on learning, collaborative culture and collective responsibility and results orientation. That learning is providing staff uh is is going to then set set the stage for PLC work for next year. My colleague
021Christina at Arcadia High School, she said as part of their ongoing effort to strengthen facilitation and leadership of guiding coalitions and school improvement teams, they've been using street data through feedback forms after every PLC meeting. They would like to ensure continuous improvement. So um apply their own plan, do and study cycle. And that approach has been key to building leadership capacity and aligning collective actions for their goals. just to share some of that data and what that looks like. They take a look at um some different rubrics and those rubrics then uh show where their current state is when it comes to PLC work. For example, common assessments and learning targets and obviously they're looking for continued improvement to help them with their 2526 goals. my colleague Corey at Odyssey Middle School and High School.
022They're currently focusing on routines and setting norms in their PLC's as well as those four questions of a PLC that I mentioned, including building trust. They're analyzing baseline data through existing systems while working toward establishing more consistent and collaborative data practices. And they'd like that embedded data practice to become of the natural part of their PLC culture. my colleague Brian at Arcadia Middle School. They're using the ultimate vision continuum during their PLC meetings to assess their current progress. They're gathering staff feedback in order to evaluate knowledge around those four PLC questions. They have common assessments that are helping to shape their goal number two for the next school year. And they're looking at um meeting more frequently from currently 10 every uh 10 days in PLC's and using staff input to see what weekly PLC
023meetings would look like. And lastly, my lastly, my colleague Jason at English Village. They um gave a uh assessment um to their PLC's to their staff so that way that could inform them. Uh they're refining those questions at the end of the year to administer a second survey so that way they can again accurately assess their staff's knowledge and feelings about PLC's to inform their 2526 work. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Keon. [Applause] And I have nobody here from Gus. Do you want to speak Karen or No. Okay. Just want to double check. Um and team STE and I accept. So we're good there. Moving on now to the power of partnership award. I will read this. Each year the Gre Central School District is proud to honor one outstanding partner with our power of
024partnership award. a recognition reserved for those who not only support our mission but actively elevate it, helping our students realize their full potential. This year, we are very pleased and honored and deeply grateful to recognize the Bob Johnson Auto Group as our 2025 recipient. John and your team, would you please stand? What began as a simple mentoring initiative has grown into something truly remarkable. In close collaboration with community schools and director of school to career pathway pathways Corey Skinner, the Bob Johnson Auto Group has helped reimagine what partnership looks like and what's possible when a business invests not just in its schools but in the future. Through their efforts, what started as an inschool mentoring evolved into meaningful career focused internships both during the academic year and over the summer months. Students now have access
025to off-site work-based learning hours, are supported in obtaining their driver's licenses, and have opportunities for paid summer employment. This is a life-changing boost for many of our young people as they prepare for life after graduation. And thanks to the Bob Johnson shuttle, transportation barriers that might have stood in the way of these opportunities have been removed. That's just that's not just logistics. That's equity and action. The partnership is about more than than internships or work hours. It's about giving students confidence, independence, real world experience, and a sense of possibility. And it's made possible by a company that genuinely cares not just about cars, but about our kids, our families, and our futures. To recognize the impact of this extraordinary collaboration, we are proud to present the power of partnership award to the Bob Johnson Auto
026Group. And because this award is truly shared with the entire Bob Johnson community, the mentors who give their time, the teams who coordinate support, and the students whose lives have been touched, we will formally present them the commemorative plaque at Bob Johnson this June. We look forward to celebrating this achievement together where it began with the people who made it possible. Congratulations and thank you for showing us the true power of partnership. If I could have your team come up and we'll do a picture. No, just I'm gonna have Jeremy, Mark, and Kelly. Thanks so much. support. Thank you very much. And I have no speaker sign up for residents forum this evening. So we'll move beyond that. Next up is the 2001 two 2 point 20 2001 I date myself. Yeah, exactly. Uh 2.01
027the 2526 budget presentation. Superintendent Smalline. All right. Well, good evening. Um over the past uh two board meetings, uh Romeo and I have had the opportunity to walk um all of you through the 2025 2026 budget proposal. Tonight, prior to our public hearing, what I'd like to do is share the narrative video that was created for the public that demonstrates how this budget supports student achievement, reflects our community's input, and balances students needs with fiscal responsibility. You'll hear about our budget uh development process, key financial components, the two ballot uh propositions, and changes to the voting process. We hope this gives both the board and the community a clear understanding of what we are proposing and why. Hello and thank you for taking a few minutes to learn about the proposed budget for the 202526
028school year. This brief presentation will explain our budget priorities and outline the key financial facts. We'll also review the ballot propositions, introduce you to board of education candidates, and outline the voting process. For more than a decade, Gree Central has followed a clear year-long process for developing and implementing the annual operating budget. It begins by assessing our funding sources and identifying our priorities for the coming school year. We gathered input from hundreds of stakeholders through surveys, school visits, and focus groups. This budget reflects the key challenges they raised and the priorities they value most. There's no denying that student needs have changed. You can see it in our demographics. Kids are facing tougher challenges which require additional support from schools. To meaningfully improve our school communities, the budget proposal is intentionally aligned with our strategic
029plan. At its core are three key commitments. Ignite learning, cultivate trust, and expand opportunity. Let's take a closer look at how the budget addresses these commitments. Approximately 75% of our budget funding is directly allocated to the instructional program, underscoring our core focus on student learning. We're strengthening classroom instruction by giving teachers the tools, training, and the time they need to collaborate and improve. That includes targeted student support to close achievement gaps, especially in reading and math and ensuring our core literacy programs are implemented effectively across all grade levels. In addition, the budget expands early learning opportunities and increases access to accelerated courses and workbased learning experiences. We're also adding staff to address behavioral needs, boost engagement, and provide essential services for students with disabilities. Here's a quick snapshot of why this continued investment is so
030important. Demand for self-contained classrooms, therapy services, and behavior interventions have grown significantly over the last 5 years. At the same time, finding outofd placements has become harder with fewer options and longer weight lists. To meet the need of our students, Greek schools need to provide strong diversified in district services now and in the future. The budget proposal also makes important investments in the safety, well-being, and support of our students and staff. We're adding new security measures, including safety screening systems in all secondary schools. We're also expanding programs that promote accountability and positive behavior while strengthening our technology systems to keep data secured. To support collaboration and transparency, every school has a shared decision-making team, and we're creating more ways for students, families, and community members to be a part of the conversation. We're also addressing
031staffing challenges by building stronger pipelines and offering competitive contracts to attract and retain top talent. Finally, we're responding directly to school specific needs with new strategies and more support services. A key focus during this year's leadership transition has been actively seeking input from our school community. Through surveys, focus groups, and individual conversations, we invited stakeholders to share their perspectives on what matters most. The feedback we received played a critical role in shaping the 202526 budget proposal. By grounding our financial plan and the priorities identified by our stakeholders, we're ensuring that community voice drives district decisionmaking. This budget also places a strong focus on expanding access to opportunities that prepare students for success both in school and in life. We are growing our community schools strategy, creating more access to extracurriculars, after school clubs and athletics
032across all grade levels and expanding enrichment programs that support college and career readiness. Recognizing the importance of digital literacy, the budget also includes funding for integrated technology instruction and provides a Chromebook for every student in grades K through 12. Expanding opportunity is a key priority in this year's budget because it directly supports student engagement, growth, and long-term success. By investing in enrichment and engagement programs, we're helping students connect with their interests, build confidence, and feel a stronger sense of belonging in school. Now that we've outlined the district's strategic priorities and key budgetary investments, let's review the financial framework that supports these commitments. Greece central leaders are dedicated to responsible fiscal management, continually evaluating our programs and services to maximize efficiency. For the 15th year in a row, this budget stays within the tax levy cap,
033reflecting our ongoing commitment to managing resources responsibly and limiting the impact on taxpayers. The 202526 budget proposal totals just over $318.5 million and represents a budget-to-budget increase of 3.49% with an estimated tax levy increase of 2.06%. Gree Central's tax levy increase is also among the lowest in Monroe County. Voters will also be asked to decide on two propositions. one to purchase 35 replacement gas or diesel buses and another to establish a capital reserve fund to support future renovation and construction projects. Approval of these propositions would not affect the tax levy or the tax rate. You'll also have the opportunity to select three board of education candidates. There are six people running for three-year terms on the board. Incumbents Megan Farah and Mark Bonagorio and newcomers Anna Maria Falserano, Monica Seaman, Shauna Smith, and Jenny Leaka.
034More information about the candidates can be found on the district website. Now that you know what you'll be voting on, let's review where to vote on May 20th. All Gree Central School District residents voted one location, the district's transportation and support services facility. Polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and you must be a registered voter to cast a ballot. Residents can also vote early by mail. For an application, please visit the district website. Thank you for spending a few minutes with us to learn more about the 202526 budget proposal. We hope this presentation gave you a clear understanding of what we're proposing and why it matters to our community. For more details, visit the district website. And most importantly, remember to vote on Tuesday, May 20th. Joe little help. Okay. Um
035just wanted to take a minute and thank Laurel um and Rob Linton uh for putting this narrativeated version together. We use this this will be played throughout all of our schools so all staff have the opportunity to hear the budget presentation um in the details with that. So we'll be sending that out and be played at all of our staff meetings. So thank you for that support. Um so what's next? Uh we will be hosting uh two more uh events, public budget information sessions uh right here in the building on May 14th, four o'clock. Um and then again the uh the following day at 6:00 altering the times to help uh people's work schedules that you could come attend hear this live and then ask any questions. And again, I know it was in the
036presentation, but we'll continue to say where to vote. May 20th from polls open here six o'clock, close at nine o'clock, right here in the building. And just reminding everybody to be eligible to vote, um, you must be registered with Monroe County Board of Elections. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Molen. At this point, I'd like to open the public budget hearing. I have no one signed up for the public budget hearing, so I'm going to close the public budget hearing. Moving on to 3.01, staffing. Can I s move the staffing to the table, please? Moved by Miss Malar, second by Mr. Stencil. Any comments, questions, or concerns on staffing? Seeing none, all those in favor that passes nine to zero. Moving on, uh 3.02 tenure. Can I so move the tenure to the table, please? Moved
037by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mr. Maloney. Any comments, questions, or concerns on tenure? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes nine to zero. Moving on to the non-unit rate sheet. Can I sign move that to the table, please? Moved by Mr. Butler, second by Mr. Stencil. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing that all those in favor? That passes 9 to zero. Moving on to 3.05, the jewel agreement. C. So, I move that to the table, please. Moved by Mr. Stutzel, seconded by Miss. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing that all is in favor? That passes nine to zero. Moving on to special presentation, summer programming update presentation. Superintendent Small. I'd like to ask Mr. Todd Smith to come up, please. And Kelly Flagler. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. Uh, good evening
038everyone. And I wanted to start with just a quick shout out um to all of our Greece teachers in uh appreciation of teacher appreciation week which is fitting because uh without them we wouldn't be able to run the many many uh diverse offerings that we have for our summer program. So we appreciate their work day in and day out and that really runs 12 months a year. So here in Greece, we um we believe in keeping our children active, connected, and engaged 12 months a year. We also recognize the diverse and uh needs and interests of students and families. So with this in mind, our leadership team has been increasingly interested in expanding summer programming opportunities to grease families, especially over the past few years and especially as we consistently notice um some some learnings
039uh some learning gaps that we hope to continue to close in those summer months are critical for that. So, we're proud to share with you an update this evening of the vast offerings, including a range of academic, social, um, and emotional, in-person, virtual, specialized programs, and even wraparound care to students and families in Greece. Programs are available to students of all age ranges from preK through 12, which includes incoming preK students. Um, and with the exception of kids care, all programming are free to Greece residents, which which is really unique to uh to Greece and something we're incredibly proud of. To date, we have uh centralized summer program offerings. And currently, as of this morning, when I checked the data dashboard, we had 1,823 students registered. Um, and that number is consistently growing because registration
040is still open. The top interest as of this morning is virtual I ready with 105 students ready which we thought was or already enrolled which we thought was a pretty cool uh data point to share with you. So Todd uh is going to take you through some specifics relative to the thinking and the design behind summer programmings and then we'll close with um offering the opportunity for some questions and um sharing some information so each of us can walk away with uh knowing how to direct families and provide them the opportunity to continuously register. So Todd, thank you Kelly. So I always like to start talking about like the process. So, five, six years ago, we had maybe one or two summer programs. Um, and then we, you know, we had a family needs survey
041and we listened to the community and through our community schools partners. Um, we recognized this need to begin to grow these programs. Um, and so, as Kelly said, now this year, we have a 100 plus different programs. So, in just a short period of time, it has exploded in our district. Through your support financially and the work of our teachers and directors and community schools and everybody. Um, but it really is a year-long process. In the fall, we always get together and debrief um about what went well the prior year. Where do we need to get better? Where might we grow and shrink? And another big discussion this year uh with a big thanks to Janine and the finance team was the idea of sustainability. So the last few years a lot of this was
042funded through um ARP money or COVID money as we sometimes call it and so they did a lot of strategic planning on how to shift this and make it sustainable over the long term. So thank you uh for doing that work and partnering with us. Um, and then we continue to have monthly meetings throughout the entire year, um, with facilities and transportation and food services and security and everybody to bring them all together to ensure we're providing that cohesive experience for our kids. So, I'm going to do just a quick little um, info on an update on each of the programs that we're having this summer or some of the big ones. So, over at Brookside, we have our reading and jump start programs. So, this K2 reading program is one of our oldest um
043summer programs. It's one of the ones that we we've had for six, seven years. Um Suzanne Peder started it and Julie Parsons is now continuing to expand it and enrich it and tie it to the science of reading and all the great learning that we've been doing as a district over the last five or six years to ensure we're providing great experiences for our most at need students. And Jumpstart's exciting. It's for our prek students who did not participate in one of the grease preks and so to help them with that transition to kindergarten. We know that's such a big leap for families and we want to help ease that transition so we bring them into our jump start program. And I Ready virtual as Kelly said is one of our most popular things and
044that's because it's the most flexible. All right K students anybody in the district can participate in it and they can do it from anywhere at any time. Um, so they as long as they have their Chromebook, which they can take home if they want to participate, um, they can do it from the beach in Florida and they can do it from their couch at home. Um, and they can also sign up to get coaching support from Greece teachers um, through a virtual Google Meet. And we have our English as a new language program. As you saw today, the exciting and amazing things that our students do as we we help them grow no matter where they come from. So, this is an exciting thing that we get to do over the summer for K12 that
045Sean and her team puts on to provide enrichment and help bridge those gaps. Um, and then new this year, we have an 89 809 program for some of our long-term L's, ones who are, you know, maybe been struggling for a few years to really provide some targeted support to ensure they're ready to launch into high school. And we have our extended school year program for our special education students. Um this is for students who through their um cse process in their buildings have been identified as requiring an extended school year um to support their learning um over breaks and in the summer. Um we have many other opportunities for our other special education students through the rest of our other programs. New this year is an exciting one. A partnership with um our early learning
046center and our community schools team is prek and K stories crafts and play. It's really just an opportunity for our youngest learners to come in, have fun, get acquainted with the school, and play and read and just get excited about learning for the upcoming year. And kids care program, as Kelly spoke to, is our one that we do charge. That's our daycare. It's an extension of our afterchool care that we have during the year, but this is a full day program all summer. Includes wrap care and all those kinds of things um that our families can sign up for. And we do have financial assistance um that people can apply for if they can't afford the um the weekly fee. And then community schools fund camps. Kelly and her team, they always do such amazing
047and exciting things and we usually have hundreds of students signing up for this. This is over at Autumn Lane um with where our kids care program is as well. Um and they also have a middle school program over at Arcadia. The kids do academic programs. This year they're exploring the natural world. They're doing Let's Get Messy and they're exploring the whole world. So they have different themed weeks. They do them in chunks of two weeks at a time so kids can have a little bit uh deeper and enriching experience. And then sports camps. This is the one when I talk to I know just like my own colleagues in other districts, they are amazed that we can put on 50 plus sports camps for free. In other districts, they're charging hundreds of dollars for these
048camps. And here all of our kids get those opportunities and it really launches them into the year and provides those great experiences all the way down to the elementary school for kids to participate that wouldn't normally get a chance to and art and music caps. So new this year we've added an art camp. So, the prior years we'd always been doing the music camps. Um, but new this year, Mario worked with his team. Um, and they're going to do a morning and afternoon art camp in addition to the very very popular chorus, band, and strings camp. It's only a oneweek camp, um, but really gives an opportunity kids to dive in deep and they get to perform at the end of the week for their their families. And another one that we're expanding this year
049is the Boys and Girls Summer Club over at Arcadia Middle. Um, this is funded through a a grants program, the LEAPS grant program. Um, but it's really we're focusing on some of these transitional years as you've seen transitioning into kindergarten and this is a big focus on that those tough years in fifth and sixth grade getting ready for middle school to ensure those transitions are going well and provide kids academic but also social emotional opportunities to help with that tough time in life. And then we have some of our more secondary programs. So each middle school provides a targeted program for their students. Again, they're focusing on five go, but there's also opportunities for the current sixth and seventh graders to really come in, get some extra academic support. Um, but with the five go
050six kids, again, help them learn that transition, what are some of the skills they're going to need so they're ready come September to make that transition. And then we have our two traditional uh Boseies programs that Boseies runs for us. The traditional summer school at Arcadia. Um we're partnering with Hilton and Wheatland Chili and they they'll come into Arcadia to have those normal summer school classes just like we had when we were young. Um but then unique to Greece, we have our alternative program over at Odyssey that we've been running for quite a few years now. And that's for students who maybe need a little alternative environment or a different kind of learning experience um that we can really provide targeted support to Greece students only. And I think I'm passing it back to Kelly
051for the last slide. Sure. So, um, like I said previously, registration remains open for 10 more days. Um, so May 16th for our non-sport camps and then most programs are running July 7th through August 16th. Um, additionally, we want uh the board and families to be aware that our summer meal program will continue at Autumn Lane. Um, and that is available for both breakfast and lunches. And uh families can go right on the district website for additional information and for registration uh directions. So at this time we wanted to open up to any questions and also let the board know that um in the fall you can anticipate an update relative to the successes and um areas of continued growth and exploration for our summer programs this fall. All right. Thank you. Miss like Thank
052you. Um, I have a couple of questions. Um, is it $215 per child or per family for kids care? You're asking? Yes. Um, actually not sure. That's per child. Oh, because big families are getting invogue now. So, so there is maybe we can give them a little break. There is financial assistance they can apply for. Okay. Um, and the grades for the music and arts. Um, yep. that's just fourth and fifth grade um because they don't start instruments at the earlier grades, right? So that's where they really um kick into that. So it's elementary focused. So it's the last two grades of elementary. It's it you know the programs sound great and that music and art I I think would be phenomenal for kids that to discover talents that they never knew they had. Thank
053you, Mr. Alvarez. Um, is there like a limit on how many students can go to the summer programs for the well for the summer? So, most of our programs have open enrollment. Um, the the fun camps I know that the community schools put on. There is a cap to those. Um, but we rarely ever turn anybody down. So, um, I know the sports camps are just open as many people can enroll in them as once. And the fund camps, I know they take all of them and then they might say, "Hey, we're going to shift you to this other week or see if that if we get too many, but for the most part, um, we do not have caps." That's good. Mr. Bowler, uh, not a question, more of a comment. I just it's
054such a point of pride for this district what we do for for families and students over the summer whether it's the unbelievably affordable kids care uh or whether it's the free camps that uh you know I just I'm it's one of the things I'm proudest about about being associated with this district. So thanks to both of you and the whole army of people behind you that make it happen. Thank you. Mr. [Music] I want to say thank you regarding now the the whole program looks really really great. Uh music and arts had the opportunity to see some of that on display u uh at uh the art show at the at the mall recently. So a lot of great things that go on with that. So wonderful to see. I'm especially excited to see again
055the K2 the K2 reading program and that we're building in all of the the science of reading information that that we extend to our students that we're we're doing in our in our uh regular program in school. I'm wondering though, do we do we invite students who maybe would particularly benefit from that extra work during the summer? Do we do anything to provide incentive or encouragement for kids to participate? Sure. So, it's typical process for school teams. Um, I think you're familiar with our RTI systems and processes. So, if we notice that there's particular students that would um really benefit from additional enrichment during the summer um or intervention. Uh those would be, you know, communications that school teams would have directly with individual families. There's also, you can see on the first couple pages
056in the uh summer programming guide, uh there's specialized programming as well by invitation only. So, um there's there's certain families that are being specifically um you know, connected with regarding the eligibility for their children for um for targeted interventions in the summer. Great question. Great. Thank you. Yep. Mr. S. Thank you, Mr. President. Um I wanted to echo Mr. Butler's comments. I couldn't have said it better myself. I think you guys did a phenomenal job. I'm really impressed with this. I just kind of a loss of words in terms of the compliments I could give you. So, like kudos to you guys, your team, and everyone that put this together. My specific question is related to I don't know if it's just extended school year or all of the programs involved. Um, are mental health
057services a part of that? Are they there if a student needs it? And I what I'm referencing is is like in the regular school year, I'll use my daughter for example, although she'd probably hate this, the fact that she can go access a social worker as needed, right? Is this also going to be offered at like extended school year and whatnot for students who need for for extended school year? Thank you. I'm glad to have the PPS team right here. For the specialized programming, they do have uh related service providers, social workers. Um, and I wouldn't say for all of the 105 programs that she might choose to enroll in. Okay. Um, that there's not going to be a social worker at every single one of those sites, but certainly for for some, let's just
058to add on to that, so certainly our sports programs that are all throughout the evening. No, but like at our reading programs and ENL programs and those, we partner with Center for Youth and so we have a partnership with them where they bring in representatives to be there the whole time. Oh, cool. So they can tap into those kind of services as well. I I guess that was my bigger question is if a student needed that support, they're kind of not lost in the shuffle during the summer. Yep. Cool. Thank you. All right. Thank you both. Thank you. Moving on to 6.01, uh, Bergman warehouse floor settlement agreement. Can I so move that to the table, please? Moved by Mr. Stutzel, second by Mr. Butler. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those
059in favor? That passes nine to zero. Moving on to 6.02 tax searcherary settlements and I s move that to the table please move by Miss Mallure seconded by Mr. Bonagorio questions concerns comments seeing that all is in favor that passes 9 to zero moving on to opening day t-shirt resolution. Can I sign move that to the table please? Moved by Miss Farah second uped by Mr. Baronagorio. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Miss Farah, just a quick one. Did we come up with the design or anything? The slogan of the year. You'll have to wait till the unveiling. Well, that's not fair. Okay. No. Any other questions? But yes, we did. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor that passes nine to zero. Moving on to updated appointment of a district officer. Can I
060move that to the table, please? Moved by Mr. Czel, second by Miss. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes nine to zero. Moving on to anticipated bids. It's written information only. Does anybody have any questions? All right, moving on to the consent agenda. Can I sign move the consent agenda to the table, please? Moved by Mr. Butler, second by Mr. Maloney. Any comments, questions, concerns on the consent agenda? I would just like to take a moment to thank the Greece Education Foundation. They donated um almost $26,000 to our various programs across the districts. Um items such as um appropriate footwear for physical education classes, materials to support purposeful play, yoga mats, avid classes to careers in sports day field trip tickets, uh wireless microphone system, field day supplies,
061um supplies to support Allstar Day. I mean they they do so much for this district. So I would like to thank them. I'd also like to thank Wegman's for their donation to Arcadia High School in memory of Ray Balman. I'd like to thank the extra extra classroom activity funds at both Arcadia um middle school and Olympia for their donations for um in support of our musicals and SED um for donation of $1,000 to Pinbrook for the first in math winners. With that, all those in favor of the consent agenda that passes nine to zero. Moving on to 9.01, student trip approval. Can I have Sony move this to the table, please? Moved by Mr. Stutzel, seconded by Mr. Maloney. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to
062zero. Moving on to 9.02, the 2425 district calendar revision. Can I move that to the table? Moved by Miss Malor, second by Mr. Butler. Any comments, questions, concerns on this? Seeing none, all in favor? That passes nine to zero. Moving on to 11.01, approval of the chairperson for the annual vote. Can I move that to the table, please? Moved by Vice President M uh Vice President Farmer, second by Mr. Stzel. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? That passes 9 to zero. Moving on to 1.02 02 election inspector's approval. Okay. So I move that to the table please. Moved by Mr. Butler, second by Mr. Stzel. Any comments, questions, concerns on that? Seeing that all in favor? That passes 9 to zero. Moving on to 13.01. Superintendent Smalling, you're up.
063Okay. Good evening. So, as mentioned earlier this week, uh, we pause to honor and celebrate the incredible educators who shape the hearts and minds of our students every single day. Teacher Appreciation Week is more than a moment on the calendar. It's a heartfelt reminder of the lasting impact our teachers have on the lives on the lives of our families and our community. To our teachers, thank you for your unwavering dedication, your creativity, your compassion, your belief in every student's potential. You are mentors. You are champions and different difference makers. Whether it's through a simple kind word, a thoughtful lesson, or simply showing up every day with purpose and heart, you are building a better future, one student at a time. I continue to be inspired by your work and proud to serve alongside each of
064you. On behalf of our district and our community, thank you for all you do. You deserve our deepest appreciation, not just this week, but all year long. Thank you. Um, I also wanted to uh recognize tomorrow night is the Greece Youth Hall of Fame and we have 16 uh different juniors and seniors from all four of our high schools that are going to be inducted. These students um are selected um have demonstrated at least one of these following um attributes. Either exceptional volunteer, outstanding employee, one who has given service to their community or their peers, coped with a life challenge or overcame a personal tra tragedy. Congratulations to our six members. We're very proud of you. Um, as mentioned earlier, the district art show opened May 1st and it will run through May 11th at
065the Grease Ridge Mall. New this year that the students have created their own student curated gallery in a storefront in the mall. I have not had the opportunity to attend yet, but Dr. Zafettz uh was there on opening day and said it just looks like a a a true art gallery that was set up completely by the students. I'm excited to be there. So, I'm encouraging parents, students, any community members, um if you're near the mall, please visit before May 11th. And uh finally, tomorrow is uh leadership day at our leader and me schools, uh Craig Hill, Brookside, Patty Hill, and Buckman Heights. And all of cabinet uh will start or they uh they will start our day there tomorrow at one of those schools. um so that we can see our students as they
066showcase their work in goal setting, academ academic achievement and their own personal growth. Um this has been going on now for a couple of years and uh it's remarkable to walk through. This is run by all the students. They greet us at the door. It's an incredible event and they've worked hard to put this together and I'm looking forward to that. And finally, get out and vote May 20th. Looking forward to seeing everybody here. Thank you. Thank you to Superintendent Smolen. Mr. Alvarez, you're up. Thank you. Um, last month the superintendent's advisory council set up some um, preparations for the workshops of the second annual Greece to change summit which is May 23rd at the Boseis 2 building. Um our upcoming meeting will be a runthrough of the entire summit um during the time that
067we meet and then we will really work together to connect and do some finalizations of the summit itself. Um I want to say my own uh heartfelt congratulations to all of the students who received the Greece most inspiring student award for our district. It is honestly for me just great to see so many students being recognized for their contributions to our districts and for our district and the con and the impact they make on others. Um students from the RTE program that our district offers help facilitated a save a life tour which is an organization that helps spread awareness on safe driving specifically during prom which is coming up very soon. and the students um that helped increase community partnerships and ensure that their peers are doing safe driving before and after prom. Um AP
068season has begun and I want to um first just thank the board for the approval of taking advant for the for taking advantage of the Boseis Coaster which paid for students to take as many APs um as they want without pay which ultimately removed the burden for students and their families. And then I want to say um good luck to all the students who have taken or will be taking the exams in the upcoming weeks. And just to remind um remind ourselves to really give ourselves grace and encourage positive encouragement during these times where we may be stressed or overwhelmed. And then lastly, I had an opportunity to attend the Empower Youth Success Summit in Albany last week where I received the student and family engagement award. But my main takeaway was from the conference
069was um wait oh my main takeaway from the conference that I want to encourage our district to continue doing is keep building bridges and relationship between one another and our system and create a positive environment for all as well as ensuring that we create a table where all voices are recognized. That's me comments. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Alvarez. [Applause] Who's up? Board member comments. Mr. Stutzel. Thank you, Mr. President. So, I just wanted to start and kind of echo what others have already said and, you know, express my um deep appreciation for our instructors, our teachers, and also for school um nurse appreciation week as well. I want to sneak that in there. Today I actually was very privileged and I got to go with a couple others including Miss Farah over to Olympia
070um where my daughter goes to school and participate in hosting and facilitating our yearly uh PTSA teacher appreciation day event where basically we got a bunch of food at Pino's Deli. We lined it all up in a very nice spread and um you know we had our lineup of teachers and administrators and other staff throughout the whole day and it was really kind of a magical event because as people came in they shared their stories. We got to know like what they do essentially like who does what, who teaches what and and whatnot. And even my daughter got to come along and you know it was it was just really a really cool time. And I I really want to like hit it to home that unless you're in there and you see it daytoday,
071you really don't know what goes on in the school. And I mean that in such a positive way. Like these people are change agents. They really are. They're building the brightest minds we have out there and really igniting that curiosity. And um I think like Silus, you're you're an awesome example of that. you know, you're just one of like everyone, and I'm not saying just you, but you're one of many within the district, right? And I really just have an, you know, uninspired appreciation for basically everyone that I've encountered, especially our teachers who day in and day out show up, do the work, and are building the next generation of leaders who are going to one day go out there and uh run the world and hopefully take care of us so that we're in
072a better place than we left it. And so, and I was going to tie that into uh the commitment one of Ignite Learning, which was in the video you presented um Jeremy, which I thought was really timely about how we have to ensure that our students are prepared for what awaits them after graduation. It's probably one of my biggest things that I want to if if I have a legacy here on the board, it's to ensure that all students are ready to go to be adults functioning in society that can contribute in a positive way. And um I think we're we're in the right direction with everything we're doing here and I'm excited to be here as a result. With that said, I just want to tell everyone go out and vote May 20th. We
073need you to vote on the budget. We need you to vote on candidates and uh thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stutzel. Mr. Farah, thank you. I wanted to start off last month uh the board got to an opportunity to visit Bosey's dinner. They serenated us with uh the food. They were energetic. They were making sure that we were all taken care of. It was great to see the programs that they were doing for the kids. I mean, we had scholars from all over. They wanted to be cooks, they want to go in law enforcement, K-9, you name it. You can see the program was working. So, it was great to see. Um, thanks to my children, they like to go shopping at the mall. I was able to take the district art show. There are
074some fantastic drawings and paintings there. So, definitely take an opportunity to see that. Um, I'm going to go off with the youth awards. Silus, you are one of them. Can't wait to see you tomorrow. We get to do that with the Chamber of Commerce. So, it's going to be great to see. Um, Jordan, you had mentioned we got to do the teacher appreciation. We kind of played a little game with all the staff members. In order for them to eat, they had to tell us who they were and where they worked in the building. And so, a lot of them loved the game. We had a lot of laughs. It was great to see. There was great collaboration stories. Um, I even got to see some teachers, kids that are now in there. Um, I
075won't reference the names because I highly embarrassed them at the school, so I won't do it publicly. Um, I want to thank our retirees, Elaine, uh, Gorango G, I'm sorry if I said that wrong. Um, Linda Morris, Wade Patrick, thank you guys so much for your service. Um, and that is it. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Lake. Um, several things. I am on the bilingual committee and the bilingual program that they've started with kindergarteners is unbelievable and anyone can apply from throughout the district. So they begin at Longidge. Yes. then go to um English village and um the teachers to we have Zoom calls at 7:30 a.m. so I can put a scarf on and go in my pajamas. Um, but the to hear the teachers talk is what's amazing. And that these kids
076are chattering in Spanish and English and and one of the the teachers was talking about um coming here as an adult and learning English. Uh, you know, and I was just thinking about how they um still think in their native language and I thought these kids will be able to think in Spanish and English. And it's just it's ju it was just so exciting to me that program and um Forever Plaid we saw last weekend and to take me back to high school and I mean literally it did was just beyond beyond the beyond. So thank you. Um and the last thing is teacher appreciation um day. Um, it should be every day. And and teachers, the amazing thing that you probably don't think about because you're too young, is the fact that people will
077be talking about you decades later. Um, my English teacher, I wanted to teach math until I took senior English. And then I fell in love with Jane Austin and Mr. Case and I wanted to be a teacher just like him. And even though I carried papers around to the point where I had berscitis, um teaching English was the best thing in the world. Right. Okay. And um I had a a phenomenal social studies teacher and if you ever need to know the difference between communism and fascism, just call and I can explain it perfectly. Um no, I really can. Um, so and the art show was amazing. My son, my middle son told everyone the summer before kindergarten he was going to school to become a famous artist. He never drew or anything and we
078never knew where he got that idea. Um, but he continued to tell people he's going to be a famous artist. In second grade, he came home one day and he said, "Mom, I'm not going to be a famous artist." I said, "Well, did somebody say something to you about it?" and he goes, "No, Kyle's going to be a famous artist." So, even he at that age knew when you see that talent, it's just unbelievable, isn't it? So, um, thank you all for the participation you did in that art show. Um, first of all, I want to thank Community Schools. They did their spring family festival and it gives me so much joy to walk into Arcadia Middle School on a Saturday and in every room there's kids giggling and smiling and I thank them so
079much. They do so much for the children throughout the year but that those special days are terrific. Um had an opportunity to go to the last Westy University at our early learning center. It's so nice to see parents of young children getting involved in the schools and I hope they stay that way from uh then on. I sat here last week and did some of the uh seal of dual language and listen to some of the presentations from those students we saw. Not only do they do a presentation, they then have to answer questions. I was so impressed. had no idea what any of them were talking about, but I'm assuming they did a great job. But how great to have a program like that and see students get credit for that. Um, district art
080show we've already talked about. Today I was at the Junior Achievement Discovery Center with half of the sixth grade of Arcadia Middle School. Uh, reminded me right away why I'd never wanted to teach middle school. But what a wonderful opportunity we have in this community. The students spent there. They did prep work on how to run a business. I had my eight kids in our little business. We did packaging and they learned what it's like to be in a community and run businesses. And um I'm so grateful that they're there and that Greece participates in that. We got some good future business leaders coming our way. Thank you, Mr. Bongo. Well, I would like to join everyone in wishing our teachers a happy teacher appreciation week and really express our appreciation for all all that
081you do. Uh Mary's right. You you do remember teachers for decades later and I had a great English teacher. So I I'll I'll just throw that out there. I also have two teachers living in our home and get to see the passion up close and and personal every single day. Uh we know teachers are a special kind of person. They they just you can't go into that that career without just having a lot of care and love and and desire to to do good. So thank you to all our teachers. We we really do appreciate everything you do. I also uh mentioned music or the um the art show when I want to go back to that for a second because there there really are a lot of great things to go see at at
082the mall at that exhibit. Something that I was surprised that caught me by surprise. Uh the orchestra was really amazing to see them and we've seen them you know in some of the plays and things but to see them again up close and personal is just really really cool to see. So, uh, definitely check it out if you have the opportunity. So much to see there. And finally, uh, yeah, May 20th budget vote. Uh, really important. Let's get out and support our budget. All of us all across the community. I want to just point out, uh, we've seen it a lot of really uh, excellent presentations on the budget process through the course of the year. Um and uh and Romeo has shared uh when it when you look at how we do in terms
083of efficiency, uh we're we're right in the middle of the pack. We're not we're not an expensive district. We're not on the low end. We're right in the middle middle of the pack. And uh I think that, you know, that's a testament to we're doing things pretty much the right way there. 75% of our budget goes to instruction. And the way I'd like to look at it, transportation, it's really important to get our kids to school. So, another 11%. We've got 88% of our budget going to getting our kids educated. Uh, if you look at the way nonprofits are uh often evaluated, if you if you're administrative, your general support is is under 20%, that's good. So, we're doing great. Uh, so let's let's support our district. Get out and vote. Thanks, Mr. Butler. Uh,
084thank you. And, uh, um, on the, uh, get out and vote front, uh, one of the things we say to kids all the time is that they ought to be the change that they want to see in the world. And if you want to see a more civic engaged society, then you've got a great opportunity coming up on on May 20th. And it's I think schoolboard elections are the sort of the where democracy starts. And uh and so if you care about democracy, then I would encourage you to put May 20th on your calendar. Do it now. Pick a time on May 20th when you're going to do it. Make a plan to vote. There's a lot of research that shows if you make a plan and pick a time and bring a friend, you're
085very likely to vote. And if you don't, you're much less likely to vote. So, uh encourage want to encourage that. Uh add my thanks to the teachers. Uh my daughter's a teacher, my sister's a teacher, uh my wife was a teacher. Uh and so I just have such immense respect for the profession and the people who make it happen every day here in our district. Um one of uh one of the things that hasn't been mentioned uh we've been having some study sessions as a board where we've been uh understanding how the district approaches identifying and achieving its most uh important goals. And it's the exact same methodology that Wegman's uses. It's the exact same methodology that Marriott Corporation uses and 100,000 organizations around the world. So, uh we have a um a really expert
086group of cabinet members who are working hard every day to help this district uh to achieve really hard things and I'm just so impressed with uh what we're learning uh about that. Um I want to uh couple of other quick things. The seal of literacy is so impressive to me. uh every year I say, you know, this is the year I'm going to learn another language. And uh I think maybe next year's the year I'm going to learn another language. And uh so it's really amazing what these students uh have have accomplished to achieve that. Um want to say a uh special thanks admine to um uh board president Mccabes to GEF the Greece education foundation to the volunteers uh board member Malor is on that uh board and there's a group of dedicated folks
087who make that happen and uh and tens of thousands of dollars in unfunded projects get funded by the Greece Education Foundation. So I'll say thank you to those volunteers and also to all the donors. Many many teachers and staff members do payroll deduction in order to make a contribution. other people go to their golf tournament which is coming up in June um I don't remember the date exact June 26 maybe something like that so uh um it's a it's a tough ticket to get so so try to get a forsome if you can and support the great work of the Greece education foundation and the last thing I want to do is uh give some additional congratulations to to Bob Johnson um in addition to the great learning experiences the real life real world experiences
088where these students high school students students are working in the in the dealership um and uh and uh you know gaining skills that that uh will that they will certainly use uh in that life um in in real life. They're also helping transport our students in the community schools program that just the partnership that this district has and it's led by such a humble leadership group there that doesn't want any attention for anything that they're doing. Um, it's really remarkable what a partner they are and what an example they set for really any any district, any business. And uh, so I think that's about it other than vote. Did I mention that you should vote? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Butler, Vice President Farmer. So, I think everything has been said. Awesome, you guys. It
089was great. The one thing I want to just say in and is to a shout out for uh GTA and um how our teachers not only are doing great impressive things in our classrooms, but they're also going above and beyond to make sure that our kids are taken care of in a multitude of ways. And me too, Todd. Every year I talk about this year I'm going to learn. And I I took several years in high school, but so you think it would have stuck around for a minute, but this is awesome. Thank you so much everybody. Hope to see you on May 20th. All right, and I get to wrap things up. Um, I have so many things. This is that time of year. I want to give a shout out to Vicky Richardson.
090She sent an email to several of us. She wanted to share with great pleasure implied that the Greece Athena Middle School has sponsored a drilling of its fifth well in South Sudan. We banned this. We began this journey in 2014 when we began reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and seventh grade ELA classes. We raised enough money of our first well drilled with water for South Sudan in 2016. And we have consistently worked together to bring clean water to the world's newest country. Because of our school's efforts, appro approximately 5,000 people now have clean water for life. Girls have access to education and opportunities have been growing for villages. This is an amazing achievement and would not have been possible without the support of staff and students who have participated throughout
091the years either by helping plan fundraisers, donating or encouraging our students to participate in this fundraising. I want to give a shout out to Athena Middle School. That's an amazing accomplishment. I want to also highlight um this month we do it every month. We vote on tenure and our annual tenure celebration is May 21st this month here. Right. It's here. It's here. And I just want to take the minute to recognize all of our incredible employees who are achieving tenure this year. I want to give a shout out to the department of HR. They had a new teacher um recruitment event and they ended up with 84 applicants out of that to teach a wide host of um programs across the district. So, that's quite the accomplishment. Nice job, Assistant Superintendent Larson and your team.
092Um, our one of the programs in the school districts that's near and dear to me, if you're free on May 22nd from 3:00 till 5:00 are responding to emergency students are going to be demonstrating the skills they've learned um throughout the year. It's really worthwhile if you have the opportunity to attend. Even if you can't attend the whole thing, it's a really neat opportunity to watch kids make hydrants and do a host of other things. Um, I want to give a shout out to Craig Hill. Um, another topic near and dear to me. They taught CPR to their students and to their staff, which is an amazing thing. CPR saves lives. I've saved lives in on an airplane, in a bathroom. I've done it multiple times, and it's truly a great skill to have. And
093bystander CPR saves more people than anybody else. The fire department can come, the paramedics can come, we can get you to an ED fast. bystander CPR saves the most lives in this world. So, I just want to give a shout out to them because that's an amazing thing. Two more things and I'll be done. One of my great um things I see I get enjoyment out of being board president. There's not a lot of things. Um they're very few and far between, but um I got to sign uh years of service certificates and I signed 273 of those along with Superintendent and Smalline. And it really strikes a chord when you're signing and noticing the service that our people give to this district. And just as a shout out, 15 of those certificates, the people
094have worked in Greece Central for over 35 years, which is a pretty amazing accomplishment. I mean, I've been here for 17 and I don't know what I'm still doing. So, anybody that's been here for 35 years, I or more, I really want to thank them. And um last but not least, all my board colleagues. We got an invitation to senior conferences this year. Um try to make one. Try to pick one school one day if you can do it. Um they're very moving. I know a bunch of us last year attended with uh at the time Principal Flagler at Athena. Um but they're a great opportunity to hear some of the stories from where our students come from that I think a lot of times we as board members in a community misses as a
095whole. So I just want to give a shout out to that. And with that, Mr. Maloney. I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn this meeting. Second by Mr. Stutzel. All those in favor that passes 9 to zero. Thank you everyone.