001He will not be meeting as a board meeting until the middle of January the way in which the schedule works. So there'll be some time uh before now and then uh does not mean the work stops. There'll still be plenty of work and other committee work that's taking place as well. But let's bring this meeting uh this meeting and uh ask if there are any modifications to the agenda. Hearing none, we'll continue on the agenda to public comments. And we do have someone signed up, uh, Katherine, president of the associate. >> Hello. Thank you for introducing. I am here tonight to share the results of the Itho Teachers Association's ratification vote on our tentative agreement. So, I am honored to announce that over the past two weeks, an overwhelming super majority of our membership voted
002to adopt the agreement and move towards ratification. Of our 580 members, 480 of them voted. And this is really significant given that in 2019, our contract was ratified by only 246 voting members. for this contract. Out of our 480 voting members, 86% of us, 415 members, voted yes. We're incredibly appreciative of all our members for participating in the most open and democratic bargaining process that the ITA has ever undertaken. And I want to give a massive shout out to our organizing team, our cats and kittens who worked their tails off to get out the vote. I also want to take a moment to thank the countless current and former colleagues, community members, students, and spouses who attended our actions, wrote letters and emails of support, spoke at meetings like this one, and advocated for our
003teachers over the last three years. The overwhelming support from our community strengthened our resolve to fight for our teachers working conditions and our students learning conditions. We know that together we have reached an incredibly strong agreement that will positively impact all of us for decades to come. Finally, I want to thank the members of the executive team and the members of the board who worked behind the scenes to make this agreement happen. While negotiations may not have always felt extremely collaborative, this agreement does reflect a shared commitment to support our teachers, our students, and our schools. and I look forward to an upcoming but not yet scheduled board vote on this agreement and to getting in the work of making this agreement a reality with much appreciation on behalf of the ITA. Thank you. >>
004Thank you. >> Uh there are no other folks signed up for public comment. So any board responses? >> Well then I will step in for a quick second. It is a topic of our executive session to have a discussion this evening and um let all board members know that Katherine and I have a phone call tomorrow to discuss a timeline uh after we're able to have our own conversation as well. So I'll be working with Dr. Brown with other board members. We'll um be in touch tomorrow hopefully with a definitive way forward. Any additional board responses? Fantastic. I'd also like to grab the both sides. Negotiations are easy. The tenative agreement is a big step. I'm looking forward to what comes next. Uh our student Rex, welcome. Thank you for joining us on a very
005sunny December day. >> Um hi everyone. I hope you're all doing well. I don't have any updates for you tonight. This week, the IHS band concert is taking place tonight. Um and then also the orchestra and jazz fab taking place. Um most things are winding down as we get ready for the winter recess starting Wednesday of last week. Um and as for some of the items agreements happen for majority voting towards contract that's obviously a big step and I think probably feels good for both ends. >> Proud everyone I would like to start with two highlights. First I club is sponsoring for food item today great student leadership and service. Also 10 of our boss board team has recognized as scholar athletic games showing strong academic and athletic success of our students. All right. Hi.
006Just let me switch tabs here. Okay. Um it has been a busy few weeks for LACs. On Friday, we had our winter carnival, which I introduced to you all last meeting. Uh, it's our biggest community event of the year, and it was really, really nice to see. Um, Spanish trip held a silent auction to fundra for our trip. Uh, and it went spectacularly. Um, and then it was so nice just sort of walking through the halls and seeing all of the creativity on behalf of all the family groups and committees and projects putting together all these big um, activities and then so many community members uh, caregivers, staff, their families, uh, even neighbors like in the West Hill area um, turned up and it was really fabulous. Um, we had a we closed it off
007with a concert by our music groups at the school and that was really sweet to see. Um, next Tuesday we have our annual solstice lunch which is a really fun afternoon where we get together in family groups and we eat and um it's mainly about eating, but then we've got some fun stuff going on afterwards. Um, and that's always a really nice thing. Uh lots of people sort of sledding on the hill. Um and last ASM on Wednesday all school meeting we had um our annual local politics ASM. So, we invited in Mayor Contelo and Councilman Defendini and uh they did a panel. They answered some questions and then afterwards they were totally mobbed by like a whole bunch of middle schoolers asking for autographs which I think they were really sort of takenback by
008but it was really sweet to see. Um tomorrow we have a QSM which is a quarter school meeting. So we split into four groups uh and discuss in separate rooms on a school specific cell phone policy. So how we're going to incorporate that as a school uh which I'm really excited for that conversation. We've already talked about it a lot in uh sort of the restorative justice committee has been working on this and then it went to family groups to discuss any amendments that we wanted to add. Um and then sort of putting that in place, really stressing that this is New York state law and we are sort of confined by that, but we are also sort of trying to bring about how we can uh increase like accountability and enforcement in sort of
009fair ways in our school. Um uh the middle school schedule is out which is really exciting. I meant to print out copies for you guys to see because there were some awesome schools uh schools classes mentioned on there, but I forgot. I was all frazzled as I left advisory council meeting today to come straight here. Um, but I'll just highlight a couple of the coolest classes in my opinion. They've got uh medieval studies, queer history, Mexican history, animology, uh journalism, and a class called music myth and ritual. um which I thought looked exciting and I wish I was a middle schooler again. Uh so they do semesterly classes. They switch every at the end of the semester, so halfway through the year. Uh whereas high schoolers have the same process all the way through. Um
010lastly, I'll say that and I think you'll hear a little bit more about this going forward. My friend Victor is running infusion week this year, which is um a week we spend as a school focused on a social justice issue. Um, and we sort of infuse classes with discussions about that issue and also hold workshops and invite people from the community in. Uh, this year the topic is Latinx immigration and culture. Um, and I'm really excited for that and looking to involve the board as much as possible. So, um, I if anybody is sort of interested in being involved with that, please let me know and I'll have sort of conversations with you guys about that. Um, yeah, I think that's it. Thank you. >> Fantastic. Thank you, board reps, board, board responses. >> Oh,
011thank you all for providing updates and all and it seems like there a lot of actives to everyone at IHS and Emily. The fusion week will be held when? >> Oh, right. I forgot to mention that. It is the week of March 2nd and we're looking at workshops on the Tuesday and the Thursday during when we usually have project times. Um, and also a panel on Wednesday. Um, which we would sort of specifically love to have a board member as part of that. Um, so yeah, if you have any more questions, just reach out to me. And it's good to hear about the um at the QSM that about more discussion on the cell phone policy because that's what we want to encourage that the students are connected with this as they were and put
012out policy although it's not state driven but we need to hear from those who it's impacted. >> Uh I'll add that I um look forward to hearing also more about the school specific cell phone policy. will be an agenda item on the January 6th policy committee. So there probably would be it'd be wise for us to have some conversations to make sure uh LACs policy is matching up with the direction that the district is going. >> Absolutely. I can talk to I know you all call I'm even talk call Mr. H. >> I'm going to call I'm going to talk to Mr. Hum as well. Um and regarding uh the infusion week, please do reach out. uh part of my actual pay job as the director of the center of the study of culture, race
013and ethnicity includes four minors which I take opportunity to say a diaspora studies, Asian-American studies, Native American indigenous studies and Latinx studies and one of my colleagues is uh obviously an expert in Latinx studies and so uh I will discuss with them and see how we maybe provide some support to the inclusion week and workshops. So that would be great. Thank you. Let's make sure we uh additional board responses. >> Phenomenal report. Thank you all very much. Uh greatly appreciate it. Um and to our student reps, also know that on that January 6th policy meeting, which looks like the agenda is getting bigger and bigger. We will continue to have conversations about the exeicio member to the board, including student reps as well. So that we'll continue that conversation. And I forgot we have committee
014updates on the agenda. So we'll hold off till we get to that point time as well. >> Uh moving forward with our agenda. We'll uh entertain motions for the consent agenda. >> I move to approve all consent agenda items listed in consent agenda consideration of accounts personnel report students of previous meetings as presented. >> Second. >> Moved by Adam, second by Jacob. Uh discussion, questions, conversation. Fantastic. Hearing none. Um again also want to just acknowledge and recognize uh the receipt of additional funds from community partners, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ethica Public Education Initiative uh and community various community donations uh including Thompson County Community Action. Uh we thank everyone for the continued partnership uh that we can find on consent. If there are no other discussion items on there, we'll call call the question. All in
015favor? Vote is unanimous. Trisha. Oh, sorry. I didn't see that. Yes. Fantastic. You got that Trisha said, >> fantastic. Thank you all very much. That moves us to the superintendent report. Dr. Brown. >> Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, professor. It's good to be here. Um, while we didn't plan this, I was hoping to use my time to highlight the saw and policy. So you'll hear a consistent theme. Um, in advance of the policy meeting, I thought it would be good for us to share what will go out publicly to everyone on Thursday. This is a web instance that folks can get to from our web page that provides some updates on where we are with the policy and share information about what have already been put out there and shared. Uh for example, you
016will see uh an implementation plan and overview one of those a document that we shared at a board meeting I believe in August when we were talk about what this will look like and what would happen as we roll this out. Um when would folks be asked to put a phone away, when would the phone be taken away, what would be some of the restorative approaches to cell phones? Um so we have as I've been hearing comments uh in this room and others about what people see when it comes to cell phones. I hear the implementation of the policy in the overview. U it was never intended to be uh you see your phone and you suspend it. It was uh a progression and conversation with young people and adults. So that was a part
017of our invitation plan which you can click and see um when and it's here printed if folks wish to see it there. Also uh just a thank you and a shout out to our communications team. You're I'm glad I'm not looking at it because it's going all um a shout out to our communications team who've done a great job of building this instance. If you scroll up or down, however you want to go down to the uh survey data, I know we're working with our high school students to put out another survey, but I would like to underscore um the data that was already been has already been revealed and shared um with regards to what we're seeing with the initial implementation of this. Some of these numbers are pretty back. >> All right, get
018to that survey. Those percentages right there. Yeah, there we go. There we go. All right, the some of these numbers are remarkable. Uh again, this was earlier and we hope to see even more um significant results of 35% this occur at the high school. Uh 40% of the students saying they're seeing stronger student connection. Anyway, some data is there. We will continue to update update this as we get more data from uh future surveys. again. Um, as I look at social media and I see politicians visiting schools, I hear folks talking about the implication of a policy that, you know, has only been in existence for a few months, something that we knew would change the culture and everything we do in our schools. Um, I just want folks to know we're monitoring it as
019well and uh, and we have an instance that folks can go to find out information in advance of the policy and any other that are on the horizon. Anyway, that's the only thing I wanted to update at this time, right, Professor? Yeah. So I'm hearing that we'll go into a deeper dive on January 6 policy committee as well. Can you tell me how the Ithaca high school survey result how was the survey uh delivered to students? uh it was going what per school you know which class period it was delivered in or how would it >> I don't but I know that it was a collaboration between our student board rep and the administration >> um and that the survey response rate was >> rather >> we'll have that information for January please >> um
020I wanted to share I guess a shout out and a question a shout out I had the pleasure of visiting the the high school I don't know at some point a few weeks ago. Um it was really great one just like seeing the quality teaching in the classroom and like the student engagement. It was wonderful and specifically with cell phones. I saw no cell phones in any of the classrooms but I just like saw saw students working and talking which was great. I also though did notice in the hallway probably 30% of students in each transition appeared to be on like have their cells either like directly on them or like putting them away in their pockets. So, I'm just curious like is that something that's come up and like what what are the plans
021to sort of like work on? In my mind, the most important thing of course is the the classroom um but also to make sure that the ban is I guess is truly a ban um during the during the school day. >> Yeah. And again, I hope we can go deeper and I hope to advise the principal to share I can share as superintendent who drops in. Um that's an ongoing issue for us. Um, and again going back to the original intent of the law here and elsewhere in the country was to increase student engagement in classrooms and I and others are seeing that and when a phone is out in the hallway while that's still an issue I hope that we can navigate that carefully knowing that that's not significantly impacting student engagement in the
022classroom from my perspective as someone that you've heard my views on this policy all along. So this is something that's going to be ongoing. I would love to hear from our principles and have them talk about it. I don't think there's ever going to be a day where we won't see a device come out in a space um at some point or another. And if you're seeing 30%, hopefully our efforts are going to be to reduce that to 10 or 15 over the coming months. But yeah, this is an issue. It's something that we're going to continue to talk about. And again, I'm happy to hear you say you didn't see it in the class as much as you saw in the hallway. >> Yeah, I didn't see it in the classroom at all. >>
023Thanks. >> That is a place I didn't think we'll be even at this point. Correct. >> Looking forward to that January 6. Appreciate it, D. I have one more word here. I'm sorry. I have one unrelated question at this point as well. Um maybe that's just from my understanding. So Sean, so the policy meeting will happen and then they'll be on a board agenda after that >> if it needs to be. Yes. >> Um and then also I know that we had voted at some point on the strategic planning. So I was curious what update >> I have a just RFP to be delivered. I want board members to the health. I'll talk to y'all at some point. I can have a send it to you electronically to give you a hard copy of a
024draft, but I'm looking forward to putting that out publicly, but I won't be putting in front of y'all at some point because fantastic. Yeah, we will continue on to school district business. Uh, which brings us to agenda item 10.1, the high school capital improvement project. This was a conversation the board engaged with last week. want to give ourselves some time to think about it to have some questions at the OBM meeting that happened last Thursday. Uh and then presented in front of us is a motion to uh update the locker rooms at Ithaca High School uh using money that was preapproved from the 2019 capital project. I didn't know you were right there, Dan. So there you go. >> No, that's okay. Chris Chris is running late tonight. Yep. >> About 25 minutes. I'm wondering
025if we could >> um talk about it now. >> Let's see if we even need Chris. Let's see board members. We went before you we do any presentation again. We went through it last week. It was also a topic of conversation at finance facilities. And so I don't know if board members need additional information if they want to ask additional questions or if they feel that they're already ready to um to move this forward. Uh because this would still be coming back to us after plans are drafted as well. It's not like we would never see this again. So, I just want to make sure we're all understand the process. Garrick, I don't know if I'm missing anything on your end. No, that's right. >> I just had one question. Sure. And maybe maybe you
026have some information about this that you can share, but one of the concerns that I had about funding for this particular plan really had to do with the shower renovation in the sense of the the use of that and if it's likely that students are going to use the shower areas. I know that they're not really using them now, but they're very decrepit that people could say, "Well, they're not using them because they're in a bad state and they haven't been renovated since 1960 or something like that." Um, you know, but but in the event that a lot of money is spent to get the showers renovated and made nice, I'm curious to know if because I know you spoke to some high school students. >> We did. and and I don't for whatever reason
027I I might have just missed that one meeting where you talked about that particular >> we had uh Carrie Burton come to two different meetings she spoke about um use from the athletics department um the entire swim team does use the showers u the code is there's a code requirement as well we have to have at least two uh showers at each entryway a rinse and a cleanse um but um the both the boys and the girls swim teams use them. Um, she did capture some information that members of uh uh the spring sports do use the they do use the showers when that happens and the wrestling team as well and that um she did capture some information that if um the showers were improved that more people would then in fact uh use
028them. Um she also shared um how the community is using uh she has opened yeah she's open she's done a great job of opening up the community or the the uh pool to the public and that the community is starting to use um the pool as well. Um um and that you know the I think the other the other piece was she had shared with us that she had turned down some large events um because of the state of the shower facilities um like an invitational swimming invitational but also a wrestling um invitational as well. Um wrestling is a sport also where um there's some heavy shower at that. >> So there's reason to think that there will be >> and um when we went down to look at how um uh it was draining,
029we could we could see that that it was it was in use because there was a lot of water that was drained as well. So, it's I just want to say it's um we were able to capture a lot that information and I'm sorry she's not here. I should have invited her as well. Yeah. Thanks. >> So, Adam, I think it's a great question, but I think the part that I heard as well is that there's also code that we have to have showers, right? So, it's not just whether it's going to be used. It's unfortunate they may not use, but code requires us. How many I think would be the question we can ask >> Chris to consider that as they're drawing up plans. to to modify that cost with what's required and what
030we think the actual usage would be. >> Well, what we were proposing was um to meet the code of course at each of the entryways, but then add an additional two to each of those entryways to provide more privacy and then also to see if there's any, you know, additional heads we can salvage um as the renovation. So, not the locker room style, but the actual shower stalls. Uh yeah, a uh provide ADA compliance but also provide privacy for students who want to use the showers. We did get some feedback from students that you know the open sha shower layout isn't exactly ideal. >> Yes. >> So for anybody here's a question not related to sports but to showers. When we talk about chronic absenteeism, one of the hurdles to that I know from NISVA
031and other trainings is that hygiene and things like that. I mean, is there any any part of this where we are looking to allow students who may not have access to showers to be able to utilize these showers before school, after school? >> Yeah. >> Is that a component of this? >> Yeah, they would. Yeah, it' be an accessible resource for all all of our students anytime. I mean, I also think um students who come in for early morning workouts, staff that come in for workouts as well. Um additional questions. Apologies. We don't take questions from the floor. >> It's not a question. >> We don't take comments from the apologies. You can definitely email us both. additional comments board. We feel like we're in place to vote on this. >> Yes. And I'll make
032a motion to approve the proposed capital project to make select renovations to be funded with unallocated capacity approved in the May 2019 bond referendum into the high school capital improvement project. >> Second. Moved by Karen, second by Jacob. Any additional question, comments, debate, dialogue. Hearing none, we'll call the question. All in favor unanimous. Thank you all very much. Uh that brings us to agenda item 10.2, which is committee updates. Uh they are in order, uh alphabetical order, so we'll just go through. Um I actually am not the chair of the audit committee even though it's the required committee. Uh we have a different chair. Uh and I will save the update for our January 13th meeting where the board will get uh receive uh an extended update from our last audit as well as a
033beginning financial preview uh as we enter into the budget com. We've already been in the budget season. I don't want to mistake that, but as we do more of that as well. So, uh, folks can see the budget. It's posted online and we'll engage in that conversation a little bit more on January 13th. Is that the date of the meeting? So, please be on the lookout for for that one. Um, climate advocacy. Oh, I'm on here again. >> Uh, I was um I'm in the middle of finals week. I was not able to attend yesterday's second. Um I believe it's the climate action plan advisory council is the official title. Uh I don't know if any board members were able to attend Karen, I know you were thinking about that, but do you have do
034either of you have an update you'd like to share about? Well, we had um I believe she was a chief of engineer from Tech that went through some of the results of um the P12 initiative that we participated in back in 22 23 and then some updated results and um we're discussing the operations section of the climate action plan that was proposed to the board back in May this year. and just going through from the sustainability advocates as to what we need to do to ensure that you know using electrical items and get away from fossil fuels. >> Fossil fuel. Thank you. >> Yeah, we talked a little bit about um the ratings that schools get in terms of how energy efficient they are. One example was I think South Hill was very high like
035a 96 out of 100. if the end tilt is very low like a 13 out of 100 if I remember right and a little bit we were talking about sort of this wasn't the main important part but one one uh side topic was talking about sort of like what what would be some high impact projects like if we knew that it would go from a 13 to a 60 if we just changed a couple of things and to let uh you know to let the board know what some of those things might be so we had it on our radar for future capital projects. >> Fantastic. Thank you. Um, I will add that in 2015 2016 the city school district underwent an energy performance contract which was specifically focused on the envelopes of all of
036our buildings and not just school buildings but all buildings. Uh, that being 10 years old also means that we have additional work to do. I know that we did extensive analysis of four buildings. Um, and I'll be working with the communication team to put up a website called the Climate Action Plan Advisory Council because uh, Armen uh, I forget how to pronounce Arman's last name. My apologies. >> Uic, my apologies, Armen. uh uh Armen has been doing amazing job and other folks students as well of collecting significant amounts of information and we want one place for boat to go see those reports talk see the report that Adam's referring to as well as well as additional items the climate action plan has a number of items that it wants the district to adopt and part
037of the reason for the climate action advisory council is to go through each of those items in a way that says what is actually feasible what can are high impact things that we can do immediately and what may be long-term approaches that the district should consider. So the end would be recommendations that come to the board by the end of the school year giving those recommendations if not as the committee goes along as well. So, I don't know if another date was set for the next meeting. I >> It'll be January, >> right? We're thinking close to every 3 weeks is when the committee will meet. So, we'll make sure we can update and I'll make sure to send out to the board and we'll ask our uh communication team to make sure they put
038it in the ICS insider as well to be able to find additional information. and ending March I think to be the time to wrap up that committee to make recommendations >> especially before budget cease to make sure with things that are in this upcoming budget that that makes it its way in. So >> and and the advisory council did request to present an update to the cold board and sometimes >> the building uh the way in which buildings either hold or lose heat or hold or lose cooling. Right? So, I may be pronouncing it wrong, but the um the idea is sort of how uh how energy efficient is are our buildings. So, we did a bunch of work replacing windows and sealing gaps and changing outdoors and replacing roofs and things like that to
039make sure that we're spending money to heat a building that it actually stays warm as opposed to just air or energy running out. Uh that was about 11.1 million 10 years ago uh to give people just scale of scope. So, we're talking about significant financial potentially some significant financial um contributions that would be needed to continue our sustainability and decarbonization efforts here. >> Thank you for >> uh someone taught me so. >> Uh right to you, Jacob. Curriculum. >> Uh right. Okay. Um yeah, so we just had a curriculum committee meeting. Um we sort of like finalized something we've been talking about for a little bit around like developing a vision for what we want our committee to focus on. Um based on the really excellent work that Mary's been leading with her team um
040we tal we got a great presentation from um the math strategist cat Mary around elementary math curriculum assessment med and coaching. um a few things that came um and in the future we want to discuss a little bit more about middle school math and some of the other curricular initiatives and literacy, science and social studies. Um I think like one thing that came up was capacity for leading the sort of changes and sort of like taking the like taking there's just some really strong work happening in a variety of ways. And the key challenge is making sure that that leads them to as much as possible a consistent and shared experience for students like in family communication for the teacher experience. Um, and part of that might also have to do with the benefit of
041instructional coaching and staffing. So, it came up that like that we might want that to be a discussion item in facilities finance as part of our budget planning. Um, because in order to implement curriculum and assessment at the level that the district has started to do over the course of the last probably five years or so um might require more, you know, more more support in that way. Um we also discussed project innovation um like a really wonderful program for for kids um and started to get into at the end to discuss that as well in terms of finance um in the future because this year will be the last this summer will be the last summer that the grant money for that program is guaranteed and I imagine it would be a shared uh
042understanding of the board that it's a really important program um to continue working on. So, supports of securing future funding either through grants or through part of our district budget um in the future. Well, we didn't get to in the meeting. I'll just name now that also Mary is working on scheduling a walk for us, an instructional walk um to um some instruction as well as a listening like a a listening circle for is that the term? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Very good. So a listening circle and so we'll make sure that we share that uh with the curriculum committee and then also with the whole board for those who want to find >> great and can you please share the vision statement that the committee came up with with all board members if it
043hasn't already been shared. >> It's in the committee agenda um but I'm happy to also help >> uh Dr. Blocklock facilities and finance. Yes. So the vote that just took place is really fast update the facilities just approved u improvements for this is a word I did not know are natiatorum which is Latin for a place in which to swim so I didn't know that word they are natiatorium will be improved and I think it's worth just taking a minute to to kind of review that process because it leads to next thing that the finance committee is working on which is capital process project. So, in 2019, the voters in this community approved over $100 million line of credit, and I emphasize line of credit, authorizing this board to go to the capital, go to
044bond markets, and borrow money to make improvements to our fiscal assets. Uh we've been doing that since 2019. Uh each time we do that, it is the practice to put aside about 20% of each project as contingency budget. But as you start spending down that line of credit, at some point the contingencies aren't needed. You realize we've done most of the work and we've paid out un unexpected expenses and that contingency money starts to free up and that is what is happening now and the numbers are coming back very well. We I think ended up with about three million in change that we didn't immediately expect to have and that is what is uh allowing us to move forward uh with the natiator project. So uh that's what we're doing. Now some people are asking
045why showers. Now let me just review that process. Tetrate is on an ongoing basis assessing the quality condition of our buildings. So at any point in time they know what their priorities are. At the same time we have fiscal advisors telling us where we can get the best bang for our buck in terms of things like state aid where the state will give us the biggest rebate and there's a lot of you minutia there. That's why we have outside experts to help us with that. And then the third piece of it is the information coming to us from our uh faculty or staff or executive team. And in this case, the athletic director came and said showers are a problem. So those three things combined allowed us to move forward with the madiator project. I
046emphasize that was a line of credit group in 2019. And anybody who's been here know that we put a lot of scrutiny on that. So when the vote was taken in 2019, it wasn't a let's spend $100 million. did was let's get a line of credit so that future boards can carefully look at needs, review them, and decide whether it makes sense to move forward with the project. What just happened right here and I'm going to repeat this at every meeting, every chance I get and say over and over and over because it can't be said enough. And the reason is now if I move from facilities to finance uh the proposal if this board should see fit is to move uh is to approach the public for a capital project. I think 43 >>
04740 40 something million. >> Yeah. And uh I emphasize when we do that again we're not saying we're going to spend that money tomorrow that we're asking for a line of credit. Uh good thing about getting a line of credit right now is interest rates are starting to dip a little bit. So we'll probably be able to finance that swimming pool project at a little lower rate than we would have a few months ago. So that that's a good thing. So we are hoping to go to the voters in uh May for uh a new capital project. This a smaller one and uh that is the main business of the finance committee at this point along with our routine budget development process bigger. >> And can I just interject that? Thank you very much Garrett
048for um reiterating that at every meeting about Tetrate Tech, our investments and all because we have um a participating member of the advisory council stated yesterday how helpful that is and a better understanding this person has of the involvement of Tetratech in our investments and going out for any future capital project and even stated that sometimes we may be a bit too conservative and too low. So don't underestimate the community in increasing the amount if we so decide to do that sort of so so therefore um in in stressing this and educating us fellow board members and reminding us as well as the community getting the information out there so that our community could have a better understanding. So thank you Thank you. Uh Emily, human resources. >> Um we've had two meetings so far
049this year. Uh and uh before those meetings began, we um the I surveyed both the HR committee and then the rest of the board um to make sure that the committee was uh taking on issues that that um as many people responded cared about. uh um and we're interested in kind of pursuing under under this umbrella. Um so our conversations have centered uh for now on recruitment strategies and we're thinking about how we can um support the district in hiring and retaining the um the best candidates in all positions across the district that we can. Um we know that a number of the challenges that the district faces are challenges that all districts are facing across the country and that there are opportunities based on you know what any district is doing to be innovative
050and try alternatives um strategies. So we have focused um we we were joined by our HR team um uh both Zach and Guadira and they first kind of set the stage to help us understand like what open positions we have right now how the district deals with open positions they can't recruit for and the impact that that has both on um on the district as a whole and teaching and learning and also on their teachers um and other educators and professionals who are stepping forward to work overages or um do other things to make sure that um students are still getting access to all of the same programming um and learning opportunities uh that they can um but definitely underscore that there are places which we just haven't been able to hire folks and so
051forth. Um I'm HR committee really eager to be able to help the district think through innovative ways to be able to increase that to the best of anyone's ability at this time. Um so they talked a lot about uh what recruitment uh strategies that the district is already um undertaking and has been. Um they already um I I the HR team has kind of restructured recently and I think um to make things uh kind of more smoothly and more effective and kind of um bucketing uh the team's work in different ways to help kind of strengthen and streamline to help overcome some of the challenges that um they've identified. uh within themselves over the last couple of years. So I think that's exciting. Um and they shared with us a new kind of new innovative
052innovative strategies that they're already um kind of working on. I know shared with us um kind of like a video promotional advertisement which is something new that they were doing that we're um excited to see a second iteration of as they continue to um to work on that. uh and then talk about the the both the the areas with which are just kind of like national challenges right now and then areas where they see a lot of opportunities such as we can help and support them. That was the first meeting and then the second was really focusing on the hiring process specifically because of clerks uh a the stronger hiring process is the more likely it is that a candidate is going to continue through that process um and be interested in accepting a role.
053So kind of understanding what that looks like as well now that we got um those foundational pieces um looking forward to re-engaging with the HR committee to talk about um what opportunities came up and what areas we might want to um to focus on really diving into a little bit deeper with the team to see if we can offer some supports um and increase uh as much as possible our opportunity to reach the best candidates. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um the last committee is policy. Uh and before I give a quick update, a reminder for folks, um this is a lot of information that we're providing verbally. Uh our communication team, um also does a phenomenal job of getting summaries of each meeting, committee meetings, and board meetings. Uh they do a great job
054of timestamping the summary. So if you're looking for a particular topic, you find the top, you click on it, brings you right to the video portion of what's there as well. So, we're very thankful for that morning because it helps uh easier access to information. So, if there's something that you heard today that you want more information about, just type in ICSD meeting summaries in any search engine and uh you'll be able to find these summaries as well. Uh trying to get uh trying to streamline the information access as much as we can. Again, we're thankful for that. uh the policy committee um stays busy uh even though we think when we think that we don't have a lot of policies, we uh suddenly do have a lot of policies. Um the one that we're
055spending a little bit of time on is having a conversation with our student reps on a student exeicial member policy. It's a new New York State law uh that every board of education needs to have at least one exeicial member of the board. Uh, we were fortunate that in Ithaca we've been doing it for some time. I thought it was 2003, but Jacob has a memory of it being earlier than that if I'm not mistaken. >> According to a friend. So, >> there you go. Right. So, we know we've been doing it for at least 25 years, if not more, which means what we're really trying to do is retrofit um what we currently do to a new policy and trying to find ways in which to make sense for our student reps who are
056in this role as well be best for the board. Thank you for the survey. Thank you for the conversations. We'll continue that next month as well. Uh, another policy we'll be discussing tonight is policy 5605, which is voter and preoter registration. Also, a new state mandate that all school districts need to provide access and information to voter registration and voter pre-registration. Uh, we'll take a look at at that a little bit later. uh we were not anticipating having such a robust conversation but it did happen around policy 55000 which is student privacy records. That conversation came from an email of a community member asking us about parents ability to opt out of directory information or opt out of sharing information with a variety of organizations primarily uh with military organizations. So we are uh reviewing
057that policy and asking additional questions about is there a timeline or a deadline for lack of a better word. What is our actual practice of opting out of sharing information for the directory uh for use of photographs uh etc. And uh as we said even at that meeting it opened up more questions than the initial questions. So we'll follow back up with that in January as well. Um we began by having uh a policy which we have on here to not a policy a procedure to delete around school lunches but it also then raised questions for us about an actual school lunch policy given the changes in ICSD practices this year of universal free lunch for a majority of students. So we're going to be looking more into that and what are the new fed
058requirements as well as state requirements. Uh we'll be talking about cell phones. Um again you can see how long the agenda is already getting. We'll be having a conversation about a cell phone update. Um and then we also uh had a uh uh faculty member come talk to us about early childhood education and uh the birth date uh timeline for entry into prek programs. And we said that we would look into that and get back to them as well. maybe not necessarily as changing the policy, but simply as a regular review of what we do. And it also then opened up conversations about the early childhood advocacy uh advisory council that we had at one point in time as well. And I know there's a community version of that, but we're talking about a district
059version of that as well. So, that's what we've been working on for the past little bit. That's we'll be working on in January. Um, and then what you'll also see, the last thing, my apologies, the last thing you'll see is that we have a number of policies that are in what has historically been referred to as our policy book. This is when policies were actually in a book, and that's where it comes from. Uh, but we have a number of policies that have not been either updated or used since the early 1970s. Uh, and finding ways that we may want to either delete those or at least update those. So, I think we have seven or eight more policies that were in the 1970s that we'll be reviewing over the next little bit. So, again,
060a lot of information. Again, please take a look at the committee summaries or the board meeting summaries. It's a phenomenal resource. Um, and thank you to all the committee chairs and thank you to all committee members. Um, this is additional work that the board does on top of our gold as well. So, we're appreciative. Um and uh my apologies to the young person who's trying to ask a question. What we normally tell people is our committee structure is the way in which we engage, we call them work sessions on purpose. That does allow us the opportunity to engage in conversation with folks who are coming to ask us questions. So um the unfortunate reality of the way in which schoolboard meeting is set up is that usually the work to the board historically does not
061allow for back and forth with audience members. We can talk about that some other point in time. However, our committee structure does. So, if you think you're having fun at a board meeting, come have more fun at a committee. So, that moves us on to agenda item 10.3, which is policy, the one I just mentioned, policy 5605, student voter registration and pre-registration for a first meeting. Um, and let me apologize at the end for getting some information. Uh, the board does not just pass policy. The board has a policy committee. The process is a policy will go through the policy committee. The policy committee will put it forward to the board for a first reading. The board will make edits, suggestions, questions. It'll go back to the policy committee. The policy committee will look at
062it again and send it back to the board for a second reading and hopefully adoption at that time. And I say that to say that anytime the board passes a policy for a majority of time, there's been at least four meetings that a policy has been discussed either in committee or at a board meeting. And it's done to make sure that we're getting input that we're asking questions, we're making edits, we're doing those sorts of things. So with that being said, we're here looking at a policy for our first reading and we will entertain motions. Then we can engage any questions, dialogue, edits, suggestions, etc. Move to approve policy 5605 student voter registration for pre-registration for first reading. >> Excellent. Moved by Adam, second by Jacob. Um, let's engage in some conversation of this policy.
063Again, this is a New York State requirement, but we get to modify the language to fit our local needs. >> Uh, I had one question around the >> So, one of the phrases is highlighted. What's >> Yeah. >> Is that because it's a change or a >> No, I it's a it's highlighted because we have questions about the wording of that race. >> Yeah. I had so the question that I had around it was I guess my inclination I wonder how nonprofit groups promote committed to promoting civic engagement would be interpreted because I can think of organizations that would call themselves that but that we might not want to require principles to partner with but I do think we would want principles to work with the county board of elections. So, I'll add and then
064I'll ask my board colleagues to add. Um, that's a uh we've I think three or four or maybe even five different iterations of that last part. Uh, two examples. This comes from both of our schools work with uh the League of Women Voters. Um, as a primary resource to help with voter registration. Um, and in our local community, uh, there's been an organization called Rejoice to Vote. um that is uh been a community organization promoting civic engagement and trying to get young people involved in the democratic process. And so we are trying to find a way to capture those two examples as organizations that are in our community and resources to work with without actually naming them. Um and so we went back and forth. Uh but with that being said, well, let me see
065any other additions responses for my board colleagues. Yeah, I mean we did name them originally and then took them back out because organizations change. Um I I am hesitant. We we also in order to first develop this policy, we spoke to both leaders and students from LAS and IHS and both of them talked about engaging the the two groups that uh Sean name and like the incredible value of that. Um, and so yes, technically like we could just say the county board of elections, but I actually think that these kind of nonprofits um provide a a really unique and valuable resource in comparison to a um a county run organization like that. So I'm hesitant to not have anything in there. I do also totally recognize your point, Jacob. I I think a part of
066me is uh I wonder if if we said like a nonprofit group like something about it being like approved by the superintendent or something like that so that it because like if the superintendent is it's like the like a group that you may have mentioned priv privately might would not align with our oh we're going to bring it down too with our like mission staff other group >> um with our vision and mission statement so that it could so if we could say that it was somehow like approved by the leader of the district who was leading within those maybe that would be sufficient um that would allow that um I also but I thinking about policy language like I think that that's so important we heard such a value of it that I would
067be hesitant to change the word require to suggest or encourage because Do you think it's really important um that that the schools engage without resources? >> I'm just think I I feel like in terms of the difference between policy and practice like is there a reason to believe that like the practice of working with these two profits would change? And I'm asking just because I'm not a lawyer. I have limited understanding, but I just I don't want to put the I don't want the district to be in a position where again I don't want us through good intention of like wanting to solidify something that is a practice that would not stop to allow a hostile element to our district to test the language of our policy and therefore put us in any sort of
068legal situation. Well, those things are already occurring, but let's um let's read the sentence just so folks who may not have it in front of them understand what we're talking about. The one sentence in the policy says, "The district shall also require that high school principles partner, well, I should say high school principles and administration partner with community resources such as the county board of elections or nonprofit groups committed to promoting civic engagement. And the question is around that there may be a number of nonprofit groups that are promoting that claim they're promoting civic engagement but may have different motives but still are not for profofit or nonprofit. So I do think there's also there's always um an interaction between policy and practice. Oftentimes one informs the other in both directions, right? That sometimes we're
069writing a policy to catch up with our practice and sometimes we're writing a policy to encourage or require a practice. And so I think you're I think the concern you're raising is legitimate. Um I what I would say is how about you give the policy committee an opportunity to work smith it on January 6th interesting date and what we're talking about but seeing um how we may be able to find a way that does encourage not encourage that does require working with um some of these organizations because I think Emily what I heard from from Emily's research primarily and Maline's research is how important it was to work with these two specific organizations Um, and I know there's others as well, but I I understand the hesitation. Like I I I apolog in in the
070past like when you've had presenters come into the school district, they have to be authorized or sanctioned by a leader and um respective schools. So therefore, in approving this and saying this um nonprofit that's involved in citizen engagement, don't they have to still go through the channels of getting some form of authorization? >> That's a I would think so. Right. A group would not be allowed to come into a building without a building leader or central admin proving it. >> Yeah. So that's part of like that process because I do recall >> Yes. Yes, >> we've had rooms come in that have not been authorized >> and we have changed that policy policy. >> Right. So part of it could be a reference to the visitors policy >> um you know being consistent with the
071visitors policy which would then require some authorization. >> So I think we could within five or 10 minutes find language that meets the needs of allowing these groups and has some sort of check and balance. Is that what I'm hearing? I was going to say I feel like 25 years ago the board talked about I feel like this came up with the Boy Scouts of America and like using facilities after school where there was something about if you allow one group to use it you have to allow all groups and so I just yeah for me I just have the >> the unresolved legal question. I 100% agree with the sentiment policy. I just want to >> I don't want to vote on vote yes on a policy or if there's any people wondering >>
072and just for right now you wouldn't be voting yes on the policy. You'd be voting yes on the process to move it. >> You wouldn't be voting yes to the second u second reading. >> Uh but that's the reason why I was highlighted because we are also not 100% certain about the language and kept trying to so if it's okay with the board we'll continue working on that. We could even ask for some language from our legal counsel helpful as well. >> Can I just ask one brief absolute question? >> Um, in the past we've discussed uh voting for students in school district elections. And I think that this policy is not necessarily related to that. It's a separate issue. And I just want to make sure they're on that. I last time I knew
073that bill had not moved out of committee. Um that was a bill to allow students who are 16 years or older to vote in local school boards at the New York at New York State, not at the federal level. Um and I don't believe it's moved out of the committee at any point in time. Um but we can bring that back so folks are aware that there has been uh a bill looking forward to trying to encourage students who are 16 or older to be allowed to help elect their school board members. How long has that been? >> I think it's been in committee every year, but the past eight or nine years from not like someone keeps bringing back up, but it doesn't get enough to to move. Um, but I'll I'll check and
074confirm and I'll send it out to all board members. I have that bill somewhere. >> Any other discussions around this for first reading? All right, we'll call the question. All in favor of this policy for our first reading with the noted change that we're going to look at. That is unanimous. Thank you very much. Um the next three policies are scheduled for deletion. Uh these were identified and discussed that part of these policies are located addition in additional places or are outdated. Uh the first one is policy 5311.4 damage to property. Um, this is a policy. Uh, I should know that when it was, again, I want to say it was 197 something that the policy 74 >> 1974 that the policy was last, uh, reviewed. And so, um, we thought that this was captured
075elsewhere in our student code of conduct, not to the specific language, but the understanding um, that holds our uh, responsible for and it's specifically just talking about textbooks. That's the policy answer. >> So just one one question I see that it said like last modified by it was6 then >> no that's when it came on to board docs. The last time it was it was adopted in 1974 and it has not been touched since then and in fact it references a policy 1520 that no longer exists. >> Okay. And if I'm understanding what you're saying, you're saying that like there is so it's not that like there is still clarity on what happens if school property is damaged. >> It's laid out in both in another policy and very clearly in our code. >> Okay,
076great. Cool. >> We're entertaining motions >> to approve policy 5311.4 damage the property is second. >> Uh and this is the same process. It goes through two readings for deletion, but like it does adoption. So, we're not voting to delete it this evening. We're voting to keep it moving. We probably would not discuss it at the policy committee meeting unless someone asks questions. But any other additional dialogue, questions, debate, etc. Hearing none, all in favor of a first reading for deletion. That is unanimous. Uh policy 5250 student activities is also listed for uh delete for deletion and I did not bring that one up. When's the last time that that one was reviewed? Was also like >> 1979. Uh it was originally adopted 1965 and last revised in 1979. Um and this policy uh is
077sort of all over the place. Um and we have done it. Some of it does not exist and other parts of it we have clearly identified in other policies as well. So I went back through again last night and pretty much every cover. So, why don't we uh entertain motions and then we'll take questions. Move >> to approve policy 5250 student activities. >> Second. >> Moved by Adam, second by Jacob. But questions, comments. Fantastic. All in favor of first reading for deletion. That is unanimous as well. Uh and then lastly is policy 5601-P. Um, we are not looking to delete the policy. We are having a conversation about the procedure that is connected to that policy. Policy 561 is a policy around school lunches that the policy committee will continue to talk about, but the
078procedure was approved in 1979 and it was specifically discussing lunch programs at uh Boon Hindu Middle School and it does not apply. Procedure does not apply at this. The school lunch policy will continue to we're just looking to delete the procedure. But we so are we want to meet this whole policy? >> No, we right now we're just looking at 5601. It should say P. There's two 5601s. One of them should be - P. The procedures for school lunch is what we're looking to. Actual policy itself will be up for discussion on January 6. Entertain motions. >> Okay. Then I move to approve policy 5601-8. Yes. School lunches. >> Second. Moved by Adam, second by Jacob. Any questions, comments? Fantastic. Uh we'll call the question. All in favor? It is unanimous. Uh all those policies
079will are for a first reading. They'll be back uh for a second reading and official deletion at a meeting coming soon. Uh if I'm not mistaken, good folks, that is the end of our official agenda. I made mention that we will not have another voting meeting until January 13th, but there will be policy and HR HR meeting on January 6. We'll figure it out. We'll let folks know. Be on the lookout for that as well. Uh, and the board does anticipate entering into executive session and we will entertain motions for executive session. So that I move that the board of education of the ICST hereby enters executive session to discuss the contents of the superintendent's annual evaluation will discuss negotiations between the IPA city school district and IPA teachers association and to discuss the performance
080and evaluation of a confidential non-managerial employee. Move by Adam or uh seconded by Jacob. Questions debate dialogue. >> Can we add discussing a resation or is that I sent an email request to the H but >> I did not see if you want to ask Jacob for a friendly amendment or you want to ask Adam for a friendly amendment. My apologies. Do you have language that you'd like to add? >> Yeah. Can I make a friendly amendment to the recognition of a staff member of the >> uh can we hold on for a second please? My apologies. Uh if we're going to put this officially into the minutes of the board, I may recommend that we say uh to discuss the performance and evaluation of a member of the teacher association. >> I'll I'll explain
081why. >> Okay. >> Does that make does that make sense? >> Yep. So I would modify that to include uh we said the resignation of an of the city no of an ITA member >> and an EA member. >> Yes, I'll make sure that I give you that notes. >> Are we did the board clear? Want to make sure that we're clear. All right. All in favor? That is unanimous. The board will not engage in any more voting actions. Uh we will come back simply to close the executive session and proceed from there. So, thank you all very much. Many of you will see in January.