001is the October 28, 2025 meeting. It is uh I cannot express to you how good it is to be back in joining you all after a couple meetings away. Uh and we will call our meeting to order. The first agenda item is approval andor modifications to the agenda. We have any modifications? Hearing none, we'll continue on with our agenda. And our first agenda item, as folks know, is a special presentation. Uh this is the Raymond Enduro Lair Innovative Science Teacher Award. Uh will be presented by members of IPI. Please do come join us and uh we'll go from there. Y Arnold and I are co-presenting, >> right? Um, hi everybody. Uh, um, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Indie Mccasece. I'm the executive director of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative or IPI. And
002for those of you who may not be familiar with our work, uh we uh connect public schools and local communities, uh we have been in Ithaca for almost three decades since 1996. Um we were started by a volunteer group of local parents and community members. And since our inception, we've awarded over a million dollars in grant funds to ICSD teachers, staff, and students in support of innovative education and leadership. Um, I've shared with you all our uh most recent annual report. Um, so feel free to dig into that. Um, and in addition to our grants, we provide key funding for the kids discover the trail Ithaca program which ensures every Ithaca City School District prek through fifth grade student has opportunity to experience local discovery trail sites. Um we also serve as a fiscal sponsor
003for the Ithaca STEM advocates uh the fine arts booster group and various school-based projects that benefit ICS students. Uh every year we also steward over 14 awards and scholarships for Ithaca High School and uh uh the LACS students and staff totaling $55,000. Uh the Raymond and Joan Lair Innovative Science Teaching Award which is going to be awarded tonight is one such example and this award was started by the children of Raymond and Joan Lair. The award uh seeks to honor their family's commitment to inspiring science education. All eight lair siblings attended ICS schools and two currently teach as a profession. Um my partner grew up in Ithaca City School District and I'm super excited about three-year-old uh becoming a second generation ICSD student. Uh and you can learn more about IPI's work at ipi.org. You
004can also follow us on social media PEI. And here to introduce the 2025 Raymond Jolair Award uh for innovative science teaching um is IHS Itha High School principal Karen Arnold. >> Hi everybody. Thank you. Welcome. Um 30 years. >> Yeah.$1 million. I'm sorry. Like before we get to the 30ard. Um so to get on with it, um the Raymond and Joan Lair and Innovative Science Teaching award recognizes an Ithaca City School District teacher who one creates innovative science learning opportunities that moves students toward the vision of every student being an engaged, educated, and empowered thinker. Two, increases inclusion for all students in science and STEM learning. three constructs s sustainable programs and routinely shares their successes outside one classroom or school. This year's recipient, and this comes from um the nomination, this year's recipient, quote
005unquote, challenges long-held assumptions about who belongs in technology spaces and advocates for ensuring that students from our most vulnerable families have early and sustained access to tools that prepare them for the future. His vision is not just about machines or coding. It is about equity, empowerment, and community education. Akil Ativa exemplifies the spirit of the Lair Award, innovative project-based student centered science teaching that strengthens the entire Ithaca City School District. His work has created longlasting changes for students, teaching teach students, teachers, and families alike. And I think that can think of no one more deserving of this honor in recognition of Akil's work with the students at BJM and at the Ethica High School. On behalf of the board Oh, are you supposed to say this part? >> Oh, uh, >> can I keep going?
006>> I'm not really a board of director, but here we go. On behalf of the board of the director of the IPI and in honor of the lair, I am proud to present Akquila with the 2025 Raymond and Joan Lair Innovative Science Teaching Award. Good evening, folks. I can stand if that's okay. Um, how we doing tonight? >> I don't know about you all, but I'm pretty tired. Taught all my classes, engaged all the students today. Um, so, and I'm supposed to be in a grad class right now. Um, I'm very appreciative to receive this recognition. Um, this is my fourth year here teaching in Ithaca. And a lot of times when I think about myself, who I am, um, as a person, as an educator, I go back to my roots. Um, and I
007say I'm just a kid from Karsi. Um, Karsi is my neighborhood. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Uh, growing up, I I never really wanted to be an educator. So, I kind of ended up here um by mistake, a happy mistake. I'm glad that I'm here. Um, big shout outs to Mr. Scott Regal, Dr. Lavel Brown. Um, two people who who were very instrumental in bringing me down here to Ithaca. Um, like I said, I never thought I was going to be a teacher. So, to now be somebody who's, you know, recognized for my work, working with students from marginalized communities, working with students who typically don't have access to STEM, to these amazing resources that we're able to provide. Um, it's it's wonderful. It makes me it reminds me of my why.
008uh every day that I come in and I engage with that student who otherwise may not have been engaged. Who knows when somebody will grab that student's attention. Um I love to be the person that can do that. I love to inspire other educators and challenge them to do that work. Sometimes it's not easy engaging with students, especially students who may not know that they need to be engaged, but it's important and I'm happy to continue doing that work. So, thank you to all of you. Thank you to beautiful >> another powerful example. Uh there's a reason why we do special presentations first to make sure that folks can continue on with the day. We know that a number of folks got things to do. Uh but that's uh very moving. I greatly appreciate that.
009Um and that's why we put that first in the agenda as well. And I want to give a special uh thanks once again to IPI not only 30 years but the leadership of Indie. Uh I agree. I agree. >> Um uh Indie if folks did not get a chance to see who gave a remarkable introduction to e viewing at the state theater about three weeks ago. It was a powerful introduction. Um, and I recommend that folks continue to follow the work that IPI does and we thank them tremendously for not just the financial contributions the KBT but other programs the district as well. Uh, I'd be remiss if I just continue on with our agenda without recognizing that for many of our families particularly that are here and other families uh are experiencing uh massive
010weather events of Hurricane Melissa. And so as someone who has family in Jamaica, someone who has family uh that are connected to Cuba, as well as uh Dominican Republic in the Bahamas, um I just want to make sure that we recognize and wish folks well uh for this massive uh weather event that we have not seen as as I know. So I wanted to make sure we started there as well. Uh with that being said, um my uh colleague to my right, Dr. Print Weiss has agreed to uh read names uh for our public comment and we will continue on with our >> We have three individuals signed up tonight for public comment. First we have Cecilia Keller. >> Whatever makes you most comfortable. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Ailia Keller. I'm a sophomore
011here at Ithaca High School. Um, today I'm going to be speaking about student leadership roles. Um, so IHS does have like a variety of opportunities for student leadership throughout the school system. However, many students feel that our voices are still not represented when it comes to making decisions that directly affect our daily lives. Like all school districts, ICTSD faces problems and setbacks. The student body's hope is to alleviate and make progress towards a number of these with the ability to be involved in decision making and the expansion of knowledge on current problems the students are facing. Students would have more opportunities to be involved in decision-m if there were more regular interaction with interactions with the administration. Well, administrations administrators are located in a separate building that students generally can't access and this separation definitely
012provides an educational barrier between students and district administrators. Um, this is one of the many examples of how disconnected the student body can feel from the choices that shape our education. Um, student council is definitely a common way that many schools work against this issue, but we feel that IHS has not succeeded in communication and transparency between the student council and the central administration. We feel that it would benefit um the administration's image by increasing the awareness of the motives behind their decision-m. Um, currently the student council's involvement doesn't go much beyond organizing social events or fundraisers, which while valuable, doesn't allow students to contribute to meaningful decisions that impact their education in daily life. Um, solicit solicitating the students soliciting the student council's input on key decisions that go a long way to helping
013students feel more included by establishing a stronger connection between students between student leaders and district administrators. district administrators, we can create an environment built on transparency and shared goals. Students deserve to have their perspectives included in conversations that directly shape their learning experiences. When students are heard, decisions are more informed, engagement rising rises, and the entire school community and its image benefit. True leadership is about listening, understanding, and representing be because progress doesn't happen to students, it happens to them. Thank you. Um, our next speaker is Ace >> Ace. >> Hi, my name is Ace Drain. I'm a senior at IHS and I'm in my second year now as news editor of the IHS Tapler. IHS is studentrun monthly newspaper. In past years, we've had a representative from the Tapler as one of the student
014reps to the board. Um, but this year we do not. So, I thought I'd come and remind you all that we have a lot to offer. Every month, our editorial team of 20 students gets together to write and edit one to two editorials largely about ways we can improve student experience in the school district. These are thorough, wellressearched arguments from a diverse student perspective. As board of education members, I expect you to read and at least consider the changes we suggest in these pieces. If you have concerns or followup, you can always reach out to our board for further discussion. You are welcome to go totatler.com or find a physical copy to stay uptoate about what the student body needs from you. For a taste, our most recent editorials were how ICSD can better attract,
015retain, and support teachers of color, strengthening suicide prevention at ICSD middle schools, pay teachers what they're worth. ICSD needs a better salary system, and evaluating the future of I50's phone call. Next week, we'll be publishing our November issue, and that will include an editorial about addressing extreme class sizes. Thank you for your time. Next up, we have Ashima. Hello, my name is Asha. I'm a junior at ESA High School and today I'm representing the teaching debate club. I want to talk about a teacher's wages. Most particularly, I want to draw attention to ways that low wages affect the education of my peers and I. As as students at IHS, we've seen these effects firsthand in the expansion of class sizes. As you know, our school suffers from a shortage of teachers. This shortage has led
016to class sizes up to 40 people and overall overworked teachers but no fault of their own are unable to give students the best quality education that they deserve. With increased pay if you could attract more teachers give students more opportunity to ensure quality education. Although we acknowledge that this is monetary expenses, we believe that uplifting students and strengthening their education is worth the expense. I firmly believe that we at IHS are incredibly lucky. We get to work with passionate and dedicated educators. And we, the students of IHS, believe that that great educators deserve better weakness. That is all for our public comment. Um, board responses. I'll keep um thank you everyone for uh for coming and speaking. Um, I thought this was a really interesting one because um, we've been doing a lot of talking
017about the role of student reps and we have an opportunity um, to think about uh, uh, some new policies that are uh, that are going to be kind of helping improve the role, help think more about um, making sure that um, student reps are bringing uh, not that they're not we're totally getting But we have an opportunity to to kind of to make some shifts to the policy and thinking about hearing you uh Celia come and talk about what you're asking for is exactly the opportunities that we are trying to offer to student reps. That's the purpose very much hoping to see you at this table in the next year or two. Um but that's the goal and so I think that this is also a great opportunity for student reps to hear from you.
018Um and and also from Asha also from you because um again maybe you have all spoken already but this is a really great opportunity to think about the things that you all are advocating for and making sure that um student reps are using their role and opportunities to connect connect with folks just like you across the school to make sure that the voices that you um want to raise up are actually coming to this table. Um I do it's a great reminder that we need to be greeting the tatler and that we need to be um creating opportunities to engage with students and I know that district personnel are here and also hearing you say that and I'm sure um we'll want to look for ways as well. Um but I hope that you all
019know and can share with your student the rest of your students body um the opportunity that you can kind of use the student reps who are sitting here to be able to kind of elevate your voices and your your messages as well. Um, and it also makes me think from the policy committee perspective as we're thinking about this new policy, um, we've been talking a lot about making sure that we get input from the student reps on what this policy should look like, but it's a good reminder that, um, that it would be really great to be able to hear from the broader student body feedback about how they make the role um, as meaningful as possible as well. Don't change here. >> Any other board responses? >> Tell us where to get the paper
020copies of the I would love to see. >> Yeah. So, we distribute them to the library when places like that beginning of the month. Um, you know, the book school. We also have a bunch in the highest library if you stop by there. We do distribute ones like directly to Dr. Brown. um and some of the people in the district uh office, but um yeah, they also online.com. Thank you. >> We'll make sure the board clerk has a copy, a paper copy for every >> uh I'll jump in. Uh Cecilia, thank you. Uh like my colleague Emily Workman said, uh the policy committee is looking at a statemandated policy called student exeicial member for board. Uh we are lucky that we've been doing this for more than 20 years which gives us a little bit
021of flexibility in how we move forward. Um but that will be one of the top uh agenda items for the next policy committee. I want to say we agreed on November 13th. I could be wrong about that date November 13th that this was be a key issue talking about what does this look like along with having conversations with our student reps. um and uh thinking about uh innovatively or creatively um we can have student reps and we can have a student exeicial member and so we can do multiple things. So we're looking forward to what that looks like. It reminds me the board should have a conversation and I apologize for doing this on the fly with Dr. Brown who has historically had a student advisory council. I was assuming that you would go back
022that route. Uh I'm assuming that we'll have that up and running now that we've heard this conversation at some point in time soon. It's a creative benefit. We've done it for years. CO stopped it, but now it's time to bring it back. So, uh, I'll look for an update from you, Dr. Brown, in about 20 minutes of your superintendent report. Um, Ace, I feel blessed that I get to watch your work, um, both in school and in the community. So, thank you for the work that you do. Uh, looking forward to reading the Tatler and some of the opinion pieces. Um, doesn't mean that we're always going to agree, but that's the whole intention, I'm certain. Um but I'm very appreciative of the way in which you address issues of social justice. So thank you
023for for your work. >> Um and is it Ashma? >> Yeah. >> So Ashma, thank you as well. Um the current contract negotiations is one of the top priorities of the district and we greatly understand uh as a number of us are either educators and or connected educators uh we greatly understand the issues that you raised this evening. So, thank you for coming to speak to us and uh reminding us of that issue as well. Right. Um if there are no other board responses, then we will hear from our uh our student reps. And I don't know what order we're in, if they think the high school is up or lac is up or if it makes a difference. Yeah, we um so um student recently completed a class survey which gave student opportunities to
024share their feedback experiments. Some junior kept complaining about no not complaining share about like information available about college are like limited and they're hoping to form more resource at that line. The National Honor Society has had it introduction ceremony last week welcoming 89 new members which is the largest group ever in the history of high school. We also hold a annual cardboard race last week event where seniors who have been taking technology class for several week for several years and then where they design and build car boats entire out of cardboard and the and then raised them in the pool. It's a fun tradition at Sudan, New Jersey. On the athlete side, um both girls varsity and JV cross country team as as well as both varsity and JV girls soccer team and the girl
025watch volleyball team win the staff championship. Additionally, JV boys soccer team also brought home a staff championship title. Our team had an incredible season and school communities were excited to celebrate their success. Okay. Um, we would like to thank you guys for your amazing reports. And just a reminder that we do have an Instagram account where you can put in all your suggestions and all your reports that you want us to give to the board. And then also, we would like to update you guys on the phone. So, of course, not really anybody is using the pouches. They're just putting them in their backpacks or their pockets, which still works, I guess, because they're not out in the classroom. But that's just something that we that you guys should know. And then also we're wondering
026of our current board status because you guys are deliberating about how we could act as student reps and if we can um budget and ask question while you guys are deliberating and stuff like that. So we're just wondering about what we are currently allowed to do as reps because you guys are still deliberating. >> Um good evening everyone. Uh I wanted to talk a little bit about like our music department. um the uh corral choir which I'm a part of. Went to the college invitational this weekend. Um that was a really cool experience to get to work with um like a college professor and stuff and sing with some of the college students and get to hear them sing. So that's just like and meet other people from other schools. Um just like culprit love
027music. Um along with the music um the department is having their 11th annual collage concert tomorrow at 7:30. Um just a really cool opportunity for us to all work with the other ensembles and also get to see like the um kids who are new to high school and the ensembles um concert. Um and also I wanted to touch on the ventilation and heating of the orchestra room. This has been a problem for like the past decade and it is like I don't know why it's just the orchestra room that does this but the heat fluctuate so much. It'll be like it was 82 degrees in the room the other day. Uh and then it'll be like really cold which affects the instrument especially for string instrument very difficult to tune. Um, I know the other
028rehearsal everyone had to tune like a solid five times, which is fine. It's okay to work around, but it is difficult to play difficult to rehearse. Um, and lastly, I did just want to touch on ITA stuff. I know you guys are currently going through negotiation and um the counter proposal of a stop and lane which is very wonderful and I know that they're still continuing but I'm looking forward to see how it's all playing out. >> I was also really glad about the negotiations. I watched them last week and I'm just I'm really happy that some agreements are being made and like a lot of power is being made on that. give you that. Um, yesterday I met with the Disability Justice Club. I know I said a couple of weeks ago that I
029was going to meet with them and bring back some concerns about that and some questions. So, I'm going to go through my list of questions and notes and then I'll repeat all the questions at the end. And I'm hoping if you guys have answers so I could have those today, but if not, I would um love an email. So uh one of the first things we said was that um some students were wondering how much uh IEP and 50ore specific training teachers get. I know teachers get training on neurody divergence and trauma and a wide range of topics but IEP and 504 specific training was a question. Uh the other question was um and I know this is this is iffy with budget constraints right now but um teachers or students feel like there's not
030that many there's not enough social workers or guidance counselors and so the question there was would there be discussion around hiring more of those um whether for the district in general whether just for the high school. Um, another concern brought up was that there's not a lot of communication about IEP and 54 specific stuff um throughout the district. So, one of the specific things brought up was um College Board related communication. There was a student that shared their experience um applying for accommodations for the PSAT um for the SAT and their accommodations were denied because they applied late because the email that was sent out to tell students when to apply was not just about the accommodations about about many things and there just one sentence about when to apply for accommodations. And so there
031are students that aren't getting the things they need given to them on tests like the SAT, which are really important um because there's not enough communication. And so I think that's something that could be fixed pretty easily. Um related to that, some students said that like resources in the district are not easy to find. So there's not it's not easy to find them on the website. It's not easy to know who to contact if you have problems about uh problems with your IEP and 504. and it's hard to contact people even if you know them. Um, another concern brought up and this is more a building specific thing. Um, but I there was a student that shared their experience. They've had this experience multiple times that they have a break pass in their um in
032their accommodations land, but to use that break pass, they need to go to the guidance counselor's office, but sometimes there's just no one at all in the guidance counselor's office. And so, they can't use their break pass or they have to wait longer to use their brake pass. So, that is something that needs to be fixed. Um on the good side, the students do feel that there is a good amount of support and that there are ways to speak up for themselves. Um and even in there were some current concerns about AP classes being less accommodating in some stances or um in some circumstances, but even in AP classes, um overall many teachers are still willing to accommodate and so that environment is really good. The last question I had was about it's more about
033elementary schools actually. Um, I know there are kids that are supposed to have oneto ones that are teachers assistants and not just aids. Um, but there are a lot of kids that are seeing normal aids instead of TAs because there aren't enough TAs in the building. Um, and so I know hiring more TAs is expensive, but my question is could we give um existing aids TA training slash does a district already pay for this sort of training? And if we do pay for that training, why aren't more aids taking us training? So, I'll repeat those questions real quick. Um, how much I specify course of training do teachers get? Can we hire more social workers or guidance counselors? And then, um, uh, TAs and aids and that's all I have. Ah, right. Sorry, I switched
034tabs for a second. Okay. Um, just me tonight. Um, first thing, although the buses have improved since the start of the year, uh, we still have some buses that arrive consistently late. Mine arrived around like 9:15 this morning, which meant I missed 15 precious minutes of being bonked on the head by a football in gym class. Um, so if there's anything that we can like do about that, uh, I know that you guys are like pretty much powerless in that regard, but just so that it's on your minds. Um, and then like totally on the flip side of that, huge huge thanks to everybody who was like driving, organizing all of that, all of the buses. Um, we've had like a few like I know LACS is like probably the most difficult school to bus
035for. Um, not probably, just absolutely 100%. Um, all of our field trips and all of our students living literally like all around this entire area. Um, so they have been absolutely wonderful getting students like where they need to go to school, to field trips. Uh, and then on this one occasion, which like last week, um, I got to IHS to get on my second bus and a student there said, uh, the power went out. They're going to bus us to school and then bus us back home. Um, so it was really fun. We got to like drive to school and then sort of stand in the dark gym for a little while. Uh, and then we all sort of like bust back home. Uh, and it was a logistical nightmare for the buses. And so
036we are really grateful to them for figuring all of that out and getting us home um on that very exciting power outage day. Um uh we too are optimistic that the ITA negotiations seem to be moving somewhere. Uh really really wonderful. Um yeah, and I'm I'm I'm hoping that they get uh everything that they uh need and deserve. Um cycle one, that's because we're silly. we say cycle instead of quarter, but that's coming to a close. Um, uh, that means new projects for next cycle. So, the project booklet just went out and there are some exciting offerings. Swing dancing is continuing. I just did that today. It's so much fun. Um, and it also means evaluations. So, instead of grades, our school does narrative evaluations. um students write a self-reflection and then hear back a
037response from the teacher. And we just this year lost the platform that we used to have these evaluations on with the teacher who maintained it. Um so we've been working with the tech department to create an interim solution for that and that should be ready fairly soon. Uh, of course the cycle ends like next weekish. So we got to uh definitely make sure that that uh is figured out and then gets we get on track for creating a new permanent solution. Um some really smaller things uh Shakespeare Lucius Shakespeare is putting on a play this year and I'm totally blanking on which one it is. It's my first year not being in it in a couple years. Um uh but it will be on the November 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Um advisory council is one
038of the decision-making bodies in our school and that draws in people, students and staff and former students and staff and um parents and literally like the wide reaches of our community. Uh and board members are always welcome. I know it's a busy day for you guys. It was I literally just came from that. It's u every other Tuesday or actually no, every month on a Tuesday um from 4 to 5:30. Um and it's it's really great. It would be it would be awesome to see one of you guys there at some point. Um and then lastly, uh fundraising is a huge part of what we do at LCS. We've got a lot of things to raise money for, especially our spring trips that we take every year. Um, and that has also begun. So, Spanish
039trip, which I'm in, is doing yard work. Uh, just to be totally shameless again, if any of you have like lots of leaves just sort of sitting in your yard, we that's what we're for. We can take care of those. Um, and we just hosted a Halloween dance. Um, and we raised $1,019.93, which is like the average for LACS dances, I think, is around like $350. So, we did pretty good if I may say so myself. Um, and I have a photo here of all of us just like or a few of us who stayed for the counting arranged around this crazy table full of money. Look at that. It looks like we were laundering it or something. >> Please don't throw. >> It was really It was so so um giddying. I was like
040exhausted. It was like 9:30 and I was still at school the entire day and then Julian comes running out saying, "We made $1,000 in counting." And then it was a breeze from there. Uh, all right. Thank you. >> Uh, thank you to our our board reps. Uh, I'm going to ask for board responses in a minute. Uh, but before uh I'm going to just respond to Judah in a second. um we have tried to make a uh I don't know about a practice but when we get questions on the fly to not necessarily answer immediately make sure that we have correct information. Um so it would be great to get those questions in writing and then to make sure we can um get them to the appropriate people. So we're giving you correct information in
041response. Um but it did also make me think that we should be working in collaboration with SEPTA um the special education PTA uh to answer some of these questions as well. But I'm sure there's other responses, but I just wanted to say that you may not get the answers this evening that you're looking for, but please do email them to us to make sure that we get correct information. >> I email those to >> Yes. And will get them uh to all us and uh Dr. Brown may address some of those in the superintendent report as well, but I just wanted to set some expectations about how to make correct uh board responses. Fantastic. I'll jump in. This is uh not like me. Uh 89 members to the National Honor Society, the largest class in
042Ithaca High School history. Uh that requires some recognition. That's uh an amazing accomplishment. It speaks a great deal to our students. It speaks a great deal to our educators and all the support staff that are in the building. Um, as a historian, I don't want that to go unnoticed. That's that's significant. So, thank you for sharing that uh that data point. Um, I would dare say what is the role of current reps? Thank you. Um, it's not the board that's deliberating. We are going to be deliberating. So, this is going to be a shared process. So, the board does not want to decide or dictate. The board wants to engage in a conversation about what this mean. Uh again, we feel blessed that we've been doing this since at least 2003. Trisha, we can find
043minutes of board reps attending board meetings and having a seat at the table. >> 90s. >> It's been for the 90s. Yes. At least the late 90s. >> There you go. Right. So, at least 26 27 years. I just asked to make sure that we found data prior to what the New York State law required us to which was 2003, which means that we can continue the practice that we've been doing. But in terms of roles and responsibilities, that's a conversation for us to engage. And I know my colleagues at the policy committee, uh, Emily Workman and Malik Cardona are looking forward to that conversation. How we engage that, we'll be in touch. We'll, you know, invite folks obviously the policy committee and I would assume we probably have some other meetings in addition to
044our regular policy committee about what would be the next step. So, thank you for that. Uh, thank you to my colleagues at Ethica College for the um, workshops that they did this weekend around corral. uh phenomenal. I'm aware of uh the work they did. I missed the concert on Sunday, but I know it was I already heard phenomenal things back. So, thank you for that. Uh we will put someone on looking at ventilation. I'm certain it'll be either at the facilities committee um or I'm sure there's already some things in work about that as well. So, thank you for that. Um and then lastly, uh I already said to Judah to be in touch about those questions, please reach out to us. Um, and Emily, thank you for the information about the buses. Um, the
045power outage as someone who lives in West Hill, uh, and someone who was taking care of their mother with a medical emergency during that power outage, it was a I was also on the phone with Dr. Brown in the middle of that about, you know, what should take place. And so, I can imagine the logistical nightmare. So, thank you to all of our educators for making that happen. Um, and then lastly, a new platform for the LAS narratives. Um, I feel compelled to say because I can say it. Um, if it wasn't for writing LACS narratives, I would not have found the best fountain pen in the world. And so, uh, prior to us putting it into, uh, some sort of digital format, they were usually handwritten on forms. So, um, I love the fact
046that we're going digital, but I also miss the handwritten version. Any other board responses? Well, just to encourage our community as it was announced about tomorrow night's collage, that's a musical can and it's a beautiful event to attend and it will be assume it's always at board and learn at 7:30 and where all musical groups get together, the orchestra, the choir and the band and our music teachers do exceptional work. So I I as a former parent always still attend this. So I looking forward to it. Hearing no other uh responses, let's continue on with our agenda and we'll move to the consent agenda. that um I move to approve all consent agenda items listed in consent agenda consideration of accounts personnel report students and the minutes of previous meeting as presented second >> move
047by Adam seconded by Jacob questions debate conversation discussion hearing none we'll call a question all in favor motion passes unanimously the members are here thank you very much and this brings brings us to agenda item number 10. Uh Dr. Brown for the superintendent report. >> Thank you for the opportunity, professor. Uh several items that I planned here this evening. Um and quickly I just respond to Judah. Judah, check your inbox. Uh Miss Gro has been trying to connect with you about all those. You have >> cool. Um and you know, speaking of student voice and agency, that was talked about a lot tonight. And uh yes, the going back 12 years ago, I believe I said at the table, we can never have enough student voice in agency in the work that we do. And
048if we do this well, everything we do will have been led by or and done in partnership with young people. So that was 12 years ago when the board allowed for me to form the student advisory superintendent student advisory council, which well what more like 14 years ago. We've got we've had 12 iterations of that group. That group brings together young people from all of our secondary schools. And I was planning to talk about it tonight anyway because we're meeting for the first time in uh in two years on Thursday and it's been completely and Miss Lo's in here completely student le they've been organizing it. They have been talking about officers. So I think back over the years that group has informed a lot of what this district have done um including electronic whiteboards.
049Um that was something that was not on my rad my radar 10 years ago and we used leftover capital project funds because the young people wanted an electronic whiteboard in every space in the school district. So that year that was a recommendation from that group to the board and I we redid it. Um one to one devices um going back and this is going to date me now but there was a time when folks were very much against having an iPad in the classroom in any iteration whatsoever. We talked as PTA council was a student advisory group that came to a board meeting talking about the need to have access to devices. we've gone back for about how many devices uh we now have bans but I mean there was a time where that that
050group informed and has informed uh instructional strategies that is so that group is going to meet again um I heard a lot tonight maybe connected with the student council at individual schools which have been a separate parallel track but please know we can never do enough and I appreciate the suggestions on how it could be better including how I could read the tattler I learned about the tattler well before I came to New York State um for the folks who know this historians the Cap was recognized all over the country for its efforts particularly how it's pushed administration on board and in my grad classes learning to be an administrator we learned about the epic at the time. So for folks who care to go deep and to appreciate the brilliance and the excellence of
051that particular student group student group and student newspaper look at what the tablet's done over generations here and why I appreciate and I get a paper copy and I now get I should have been sharing that paper copy with with all too. Last thing um if you have an opportunity folks please check out the uh previous the the curriculum committees meeting that happened right before this meeting. There was a robust conversation on a number of topics including the goals and priority survey. Um we typically share during this meeting each year what happened when we administered that annual survey. It was a great discussion because we now have have our results. I'll ask folks to take a look at the we'll see the the board minutes summaries will come out. You can look at the meeting
052and maybe at the next superintendent advisor the superintendent at the superintendent presentation report I can share some highlights from that robust conversation. That's an important survey and the response rates have been significant and have gotten better. So I appreciate folks are taking the time to fill that out. And finally, yes, uh we have uh you know, I always hope that the next will be the last negotiation session with our teachers association and that will be on Thursday. We'll be live streamed and we hope to be even closer to some agreements on a number of topics. So thank you'all for tuning in. I think the last one's 44 minutes. I hope this one is even shorter. All right. thought and thank you for the opportunity to share. >> Thank you, Dr. Grow. Um, this brings us
053to our next agenda item, which is agenda item 11.1. This is committee updates. Um, we started adding this to the agenda a number of years ago, realizing uh that board members would benefit from hearing what other committees are doing if they don't serve on those committees. realizing that our community partners and community members and caregivers would benefit from hearing what um committees are doing. Um and I will say that this is prior to the existence of two different things. So a quick thank you to our communications team. Uh we now have uh meeting summaries of all meetings which I hope folks find to be extremely helpful. They are minute marked based upon topic. You can go watch the YouTube video. you can get uh an immediate update. And I want to say a year ago,
054I'm looking at Emily. This is one of the ideas that Emily and I were talking about uh of doing monthly updates. So the board now do does a monthly update for uh all of our meetings as well. And the response or the open rate on those messages has been extremely impressive as well. So those are two additional ways in which the board is trying to push out some of the information that it's doing. uh but we still believe that committee updates are a worthwhile endeavor uh during our uh board business meetings. Um we have a number of committees that we'll go through a couple of minutes each that we'll begin with um and then we'll proceed from there. Uh the first is the audit committee. Um I was unable to attend the last audit committee.
055Uh our community should know that the audit committee has three community members that serve on it. They actually make up the quorum. Unfortunately, we did not have a quorum for that meeting. Uh, and yet we went through with the presentation to make sure that folks can understand what the audit was. The audit was approved last board meeting on October 14th. Uh, so for additional information, please take a look at uh the audit committee meeting and then the board of education meeting on uh October 18. Uh, next would be the curriculum committee. >> I request to go last. I want to hear other people share. >> Sure. Up next would be the human resource committee. Emily, >> um I'm gonna keep my short once or twice. Uh but uh we have a number of issues that
056are current processes that um have been raised through negotiations or um other conversations that we've heard from community members and staff members and so forth. um that we're going to be working with the HR committee on to make sure the processes are in place and streamlined and that um and that challenges that have been that have come up in the past are being resolved in a timely manner. Uh the exit interviews are one piece um one specific piece that we hope to dive into more as it's come up a lot um in contract negotiations again and data that we hope we can work with the district on making sure that they have um comparable information and data uh that the ITA has been bringing forth um right now I think that those are happening but
057not um systematically uh and then we're going to be really focusing on recruitment efforts s um and applicable and effective hiring practices. Um and those are the main buckets that so far the HR committee has decided to um focus their attention on for the year. >> Thank you, Emily. Uh the facilities and finance committee which we combined this year. Dr. Bla. >> Yeah, sure. So, we had a construction update, some good progress made on our new STEM labs. uh had an update on the timeline for the capital project we're hoping to initiate in May. And then uh two two notable things. One on the facility side. Uh there is some money left over from the 2019 bond and uh we also learned I learned that the shower facilities at the high school are original from
0581964. And apparently that's old. Uh and these showers are in need of updates. So we had some uh discussion about that. Todd uh I think was going to do a shower tour report back to the board who thinks maybe it can be done for a little less. We'll see some some discussion on that. And then on the finance side uh we had two noteworthy uh pieces of information from Dr. Lissy and he correct me if I'm getting it wrong. One is that our fund balance is healthier than we had thought. Uh that's the result of the the final audit. the audit has revealed that we have a little bit more um cash on hand than we anticipated. So that's a good thing. And the second thing is that the demography study while still underway has
059been supplementary results would suggest a decline in the number of students basically the decline in enrollment which uh those two things offer opportunities for us maybe having a little bit more fund availability than they might have realized. and uh that has some implications for our discussions with departments. >> Appreciate it. Thank you, >> G. Question. >> Uh we that's how we normally do it, but by all means, please do let's do something different. >> Hey, so um just to maybe this is a clarifying question. You said you talked about leftover bond money and then also shower. So are those connected like the leftover bond money that's questions use that on their showers or the >> That's the proposal. Yes. >> How were the showers arrived at something else? >> Uh because as I said they're
060original from 1964 and they're uh reportedly decrepit. >> No, I I understand that. I I guess I just I'm thinking like other facilities conversations. I've heard I've heard like a number of facilities concerns. >> Yeah. I mean so Tatum Engineering advises on this and they do a triage of sort of the available funds and the needs and it was their recommendation that the showers were uh the best use of those funds uh given the amount of funds and the the need. So, um I guess I didn't ask I'm sure they had a the shower at the top of the list. I'm sure there was number two, number three, and number four. I I didn't ask what those were, but you could. >> But we also had um facilities evaluation where we review all of the
061facilities throughout the district and there's a list of items in there. So it would be a discussion of like which one how does versus the shower versus the bleachers, right? >> Well, the bleachers are actually also getting done too. So the bleachers are um I cliff notes, but actually the bleachers are going to be done as well. So they were on the list. It was the shower, so that was the most interesting >> discussion. Yeah, I was I was just curious when the I I would Yeah, I'm obviously late to the conversation. It sounds like am I to assume that like there is conversation? >> Yeah. I mean a slightly a slightly more uh elaborate answer since you're asking is that uh the athletic director came and she's identified this is a priority. Um and
062it's not just student needs although those are important but there's also a desire to have more community uh engagement or I say community use of the pool. So that means you know staples and infinities as well as teachers who are being offered teachers and other staff members who are being offered opportunity to come use the pool before the start of the school day. In order for all those things to happen, the showers are identified as the priority need. >> I feel compelled just to add in this moment that these are conversations that are always u much more complex and never simple. Um, one of the things that we learned is that there may be a building that may be in need of particular updates or something, but we may be near the max of what
063the return rate would be for uh getting uh money back from the state. And so part of it is um oftentimes what is the amount of money we've already invested in a particular building over a 5year span. Uh anytime that there is a capital project that is approved by the voters, um it is up to a certain amount of money. the goal is never to reach that amount of money, but if there are immediate concerns that we then use those funds uh because they've been allocated for and budgeted for. And so um I think that's a great question, Jacob. And I just want the community to know that it's always much more complex than we just picked showers, right? That we could have picked a library someplace. Um but financially at the moment that may
064not make the me the best sense as we're looking at, you know, any number of buildings. uh 120 million uh capital project uh whatever that you know whatever that looks forward. So I would actively encourage our community to attend our finance facilities committees uh to be able to get into the nuance of some of those things because it's it's never an easy decision even though it may seem like it's a no-brainer if that makes sense. Is that a fair? Yeah. So, all all those things are absolutely true and there are um we we have advisors on this, but there's a lot of rules and regulations associated with the amount of money it put in different buildings and timelines and the state rebate and all that. So, I just didn't want to get into that in
065the summary of the meeting, but it is all there in the in in the I mean >> during the in the meeting. Yeah, >> I appreciate it was an hour. >> Yeah. And as a former IHS student, I have nostalgia towards the shower. >> Thanks. Maybe the brief will be next. Uh policy committee because you've asked to go last, right, Jacob? Uh so the policy committee, our last meeting um was a robust meeting. We had a presentation by Dr. Dan Briman about the safety plan where we also had a conversation about what takes place anytime the district or a particular school may receive a threat and what the process is. That's also identified in the safety plan. A public hearing will be happening soon, Trisha. soon. >> Um I don't know the exact date at
066this point in time, my apologies, but there will be a public hearing about the safety plan and it is available on our website. Uh I believe we finally finalized the public use of school facilities policy as well as the public use of school facilities protocol or regulation. Um we want to thank the community for pushing us and thinking differently um in terms of thinking about both indoor spaces and outdoor spaces. Uh that was a robust conversation as well. Uh we had a conversation about student reps and or student as exofficial members of the board. Uh we had a conversation about student voter registration and voter pre-registration. It is now a New York state law that every high school or secondary school be providing opportunities uh or not providing opportunities to ensuring access to voter registration,
067voter pre-registration. We working with both high school and LACS. Um and then lastly, the policy committee spent some time at the policy meeting and then a separate meeting with just the policy members about naming of facility spaces and/or locations. The board has received a couple of requests over the past year. Uh in my time on the board, we see numerous requests about naming and or honoring spaces um and locations. The board has never had a policy and so we've been researching what other communities have done. uh we've uh tried to sort of go through and see what folks are doing throughout the state as well as in other states. Um we have some main rough ideas uh but that will also be a topic of conversation at the next policy committee. Um understanding this will
068be a prolonged process. We want to make sure we get input uh but we want to write a policy since the first time that this policy has been written that actually tries to um capture and think about this in a much more holistic way. So that has been the extent of the policy committee and look forward to our November meeting. >> Let me go back to curriculum. >> Thank you so much for letting me observe. Um >> in the curriculum committee, we've had a couple of meetings. We just finished one. Um, we've been talking about vision setting for our work to really highlight how as a curriculum committee can we focus on two big elements of the student experience sort of like academic consistency and consistency and how students are asked to be like asked
069to engage um in their in their courses um across our district. Um Dr. Brown, what you said about you know some of the data we've looked at really resonated with me. interesting. Um Emily and I had the like we got to attend the um the New York State School Boards Association conference and one of the things that came out I think with a lot of the districts was how it's in some ways a little odd that like some of those presentations live like that the curriculum committee gets this information that actually is actually highly relevant to the whole board in terms of the the climate survey. We also got some really interesting data whenever our first meeting was about academic um achievement data from the last year. And so personally I would recommend that some
070of these moveboard meetings for us to look um just like for us to look at some of the very student centered data that we get to see in the curriculum committee because I think it should be of great interest to everyone at this table and I assume um to you all as well. Um and we are um and on the horizon a lot of our work is going to be around curriculum adoption. Um there's just been some really excellent work from Mary, from our team, like from the teachers um especially in the elementary school around like working on just a coherent instructional experience for kids that we're looking to um expand in grade levels and expand um in subject areas and more on that as that as that happens in partnership. That's what I have.
071>> Thank you, Jacob. And um the one comment about being full board conversation, one of the ways we use our committees um is to cipher through information and then recommend full board meetings. And so if the curriculum committee is having a conversation or discussion that is relevant to full board, then by all means, please have the curriculum committee recommend that to be an agenda item at the next full board meeting. uh we do it with HR committees, we do it with policy committee, we do it with finance facilities committee and so um I wouldn't um I wouldn't go away from that process because as we know our committee structure allows us to have richer conversations and much more in-depth discussion than we do at the full board. So that would be my my humble recommendation.
072>> Absolutely. >> Sorry, >> I was just gonna say that's a great recommendation. I'm writing down the date. Um, and you mentioned it that uh you and Emily got to do one of the great uh things that a school board member gets to do in their volunteer role, which is attend the New York State School Board Association annual conference is um not to ask you all to speak extraneously, but is there any feedback, any sessions that you went to or of value, anything that you'd like to share with the board at this time or we can put it on for a future agenda item as well? >> There are a few things. We've started to capture our notes, but I'd love to respect the request that we do that in the next. >> Fantastic. And
073then lastly, uh two meetings ago, the board adopted an advisory council on a climate action plan. Uh Dr. Brown has uh asked myself and Armen to uh co-chair that committee. We have begun uh the preliminary stages of identifying um an invitation list of writing invitation writing down a first agenda. Um we seem to be very much in line. Uh we are planning on that committee that advisory council meeting um I want to say November 17th, Monday, November 17th. Um our first meeting will be November 17th. All board members will be invited once those invitations go out. Um, and the purpose of that committee is to review the climate action plan that was presented to the board of education last year and have some concrete conversations about what is um doable, for lack of a better
074word, and what has significant financial implications that we should consider long term. Uh, what may be some culture shifts that we can do short term. um and how can we work together collaboratively with uh students uh teachers, community members, experts, uh teachers and board members to uh push forward uh the climate action plan is will be coming your way. So um invitations will be coming out this week uh and we'll keep folks a breast of when that first meeting is. Um I think that's it. Any other committees that I'm missing? not a committee, but um if if uh you all are amendable, I could share just some quick very quick notes from being a voting delegate for NPA. I know that happens in proact the three things that I wrote. Um, so NISVA has a
075lobbying arm that like talks with the legisl like the legislature in Albany around like recommending legislation. Um, a couple of relevant updates is NISBA is going to be advocating for two things connected to recess because I know this has come up as a question around our district. One is to include recess as instructional minutes to support districts in particular with less instru like with less time to make sure that districts don't feel like they need to short change recess um because of a a certain required number of their academic minutes and to acknowledge that recess is an important part of an instructional day and also to increase the requirements of recess from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. Those are not laws or legislation. That's there's no immediate implication. I'm just happy to say that he
076contributed to the voting to make that a legislative priority. Um we were disappointed at one of MIT's requests which was to reduce the number of lockdown required lockdown drills from four a year to two a year that that unfortunately did not pass although it was recommended by NISA. Um, and we also were unable to um to advocate for um tax or like for more distribution of taxes to make uh essentially to better fund our our schools um given the inequities with um property taxes being the main um source. So those are the updates. Um it the meeting was five and a half hours. I sure I wish I wish you had all told me that you were hazing me, >> but I am for what it's worth. I thought it was fun and I would
077be happy to do it again in the future. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, Jacob. Thank you. We are we are aware of that length. Um and I will say that uh ETHA uh the legislative advocacy committee which is not currently underway has had significant impact around the state and having state legislation passed. And so, uh, something for us to consider again the way in which we use our voice, uh, your voice at that meeting. Um, you know, and as I think I wrote to you exactly that it's interesting that a good number of our concerns often times don't apply to other school districts and vice versa, but there are definitely times when our interests overlap. So, thank you for serving as our voting delegate for the misb. Uh if there are no other things,
078we have some upcoming meetings coming soon. Uh some policy committees coming up, a board facilities and finance committee, a board voting meeting. Um please we'll make sure that we push those out. Um and then the meantime, the board has the opportunity to enter into executive session. Um I would uh humbly recommend that we change the language that is here to be much more specific. Do you have specific language there, Jacob, that you're gonna read there? >> Wait, what? I'm sorry. Say that again. >> No need. I That was a different conversation. We We are hoping to enter into executive session to discuss it negotiations and the superintendent evaluation. If we could get a motion to enter executive session for those two items, that would be >> so I motion that we enter executive session for
079the purpose of discussing ITA negotiations and superintendent. Second >> moved by Jacob second by Aaron. Discussion, debate, conversation. >> Hearing none. Let's call the question. All in favor of the board members here here. Uh this for the most part will conclude our board meeting. We have no other voting to agenda items. We will come back to close the meeting. Uh but this will be the end of the meeting for Tuesday. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. See you tomorrow.