June 15, 2023 KLSD Board of Education Meeting

001good evening everybody welcome so nice to see everyone welcome good evening it's Thursday June 15th it's my pleasure to make a motion for the board to return to public session seconded by Julia thank you so much all in favor please say hi hi seven zero thank you welcome to our members of the faculty and staff Welcome to our community it is hard to believe that this is the last Board of Education meeting of the 2022-2023 school year we're very much looking forward to two very um comprehensive and important presentations related to diversity equity and inclusion in our schools and in our school community and also an opportunity to be updated on the very exciting work related to our Capital Bond Improvement project before we get started if everybody would please join us as is our

002custom for the Pledge of Allegiance wonderful thank you as I mentioned it is our last meeting of the school year and school is really winding down you might have seen a sign on your way into the high school that this week was already the last day of classes here in the high school we're going to briefly go around for board announcements in just a moment before we turn our attention to tonight's presentations and we did just want to express our gratitude to the entire district office staff and our building leaders and directors and the entire staff for what has been a very successful return to a mostly normal school year I think it's easy to take it for granted here toward the end of the school year that this really was um a very tentative

003hopeful return to school in September where our students and staff were not wearing masks for the first time since the onset of the pandemic I think we can all agree that feels like a really long time ago but in particular with regard to our opportunity to convene at the board table in person you know we want to acknowledge and express our appreciation for some fantastic presentations that helped us to reconnect with the staff and with the amazing work that has been happening in Katonah lewisboro School District throughout the pandemic and then into this school year especially the focus on belonging and ensuring that our classrooms and school buildings are places where all students and Staff feel welcome and that everybody feels a sense of belonging we appreciate the opportunity to celebrate many students in these

004meetings this year we've seen just redoubled efforts to bring in student performances and to hear from some of our artists and it's been a pleasure to see our students flourishing to meet some of our new staff members who are leading these programs and we really appreciate the energy and positivity that that has lent to our meetings and we know that it doesn't just happen magically and that it took a lot of work and coordination behind the scenes so we thank you very much for those opportunities to celebrate um it's fitting that tonight we're going to hear from our Architects and be updated on the work of the capital Improvement project because as recently as September we were hoping that our community would support that vote and thankfully it did it broadly supported that project and

005we're going to hear more about our infrastructure and we appreciate having heard about dedicated efforts to create a sense of belonging updates related to mental health in challenging times and how we're meeting those needs 360 degree math Visual and Performing Arts updates the learning technology Grant which had been ongoing behind the scenes and we heard about info we heard some very great enthusiasm from our teachers who collaborated toward that Grant and Chris Nelson of course leading that work the Innovation cohort which reported out after two years of work Tri-State visit which took place this year we heard from our sustainability committee and rededicated ourselves to a greenhouse gas emissions goal for the future which is out ahead of the state of New York and of course budget conditions budget deliberations which led to the successful

006passage of the budget for next school year um our penultimate meeting last time of course was an opportunity to celebrate retirees and new tenure candidates and again tonight we're very much looking forward to two really comprehensive presentations so it's been a very active year a year of a lot of positivity here in the boardroom and we really appreciate all of the hard work that has gone on to support those efforts for the Board of Education and the entire District throughout the year thank you and with that we celebrated our first girls in sports day shortly after our last board meeting there were like 140 girls who came and signed up and participated in field hockey lacrosse tennis and volleyball thank you to Christian McCarthy and to a couple of coaches who I think had seen

007this implemented in other school districts and brought it to Katonah lewisboro and safe to say a lot of parents were very appreciative of the opportunity for their young children to experience the John Jay campus for the first time and to try out some new sports congratulations to our seniors some of whom were recognized at senior recognition night on June 5th and we'll have the opportunity to celebrate them on June 20th as they graduate and we celebrate them at caramore and finally ev1 has landed and it has been spotted in the parking lot and we have an electric vehicle on the premises so congratulations to our entire school district and everybody that played a role in making that happen and with that I turn it over gladly to my board colleagues and I know we're looking

008forward to hearing from you Andrew any further announcements please Ilana yeah I just wanted to Second the um girls in sports day event I was able to take one of my daughters it was really amazing and just so thoughtfully done as a way to introduce girls to a number of sorts I think they're even more than you mentioned I think it was eight different sports that girls had the opportunity to try out with coaches with Varsity athletes in a very encouraging low pressure environment um that I hope all our students get accessed and exposure to kind of have those opportunities to learn about sports and engage with them in a fun way um also I know that a number of schools have been I don't want to take away Jake's team but just end of

009your concerts and things at the elementary school and in particular parents have been doing a lot at the ptos to really make the end of year celebration special for each of the those moving up from significant grades to those just kind of making the transition so it's been a busy time and thank you uh to all the parents who are doing so much that's the year's MD thank you I can add a thank you for the girls sports sports day as well I know that Christian McCarthy worked really hard for that but I also know that Debbie Walsh was a parent volunteer who gave countless hours in addition to I think believe all of our coaches volunteered for that entire day as well as many of our student athletes gave up their day so I

010really am appreciative so that sounds like it was a huge success thank you yeah a lot of really positive energy anything else before we hear from Andrew we can always come back please Andrew thank you sure just a few comments I want to continue with the sports theme first and give a huge congratulations to our John Jay High School women's lacrosse team that had a phenomenal season uh this year they became five-time sectional Champions five consecutive Seasons I believe which is an amazing record and made it all the way to the state championship game played in the final game played a courageous game didn't quite make it over that final line against the team from Bayport in Long Island but just I know they're appropriately proud that coaches are amazingly proud of them just a

011phenomenal season all around for the girls on that team so congratulations to all of them and to all of our athletes for the great spring Seasons that they had uh next I want to get very warm congratulations to one of our teachers here at John Jay High School Dan Longhurst We Know Dan as physics teacher and advisor to Saga our sexuality and gender Alliance well June 11th 2023 was decl declared by the Westchester Board of legislatures as Daniel Longhurst day in Westchester County which is pretty amazing and I want to read a quote from legislator Erica Pierce who read this Proclamation on the day on behalf of Dan and she said that as an openly gay top-notch physics teacher an advisor to John Jay High School sexuality and gender Alliance Saga then has a critical

012positive impact on students lives which by extension improves their mental health self-esteem and their academic outcomes all outcomes you see with a truly excellent teacher and Mentor which is Who We Know Dan to be in a manner consistent with Who We Know Dan to be he said in response it's my students bravery in being out that inspires my work and I want to thank them because they are my heroes so congratulations and I really want thank you to Dan for all his terrific work and then just just a few other quick announcements I think it was mentioned already we had a really lovely senior recognition night here back uh a little more than a week and a half ago here on the lawn thank you to our John Jay High School administration and all the

013teachers and students who spoke that night and congratulations to all the students recognized is definitely that end of the year feeling and weak tomorrow night is the prom here at John Jay High School graduation on Tuesday at caramore Wednesday's 8th grade graduation ceremony at John Day Middle School Thursday's fifth grade moving up at all three elementary schools and finally on a final of this week we celebrate the Juneteenth holiday with a long weekend I think it might be the first year that it's formally recognized as a holiday in all schools in New York state maybe last year was the first year maybe this was the second year and actually we also did just here this year that New York state will be declaring Luna New Year a holiday in the coming year it's not going

014to impact next year's calendar I believe it falls on a Saturday but in the following year that'll be another calendar year anyway um recognition of the Juneteenth holiday this weekend those are the answers that's great thank you so much we appreciate those any comments questions or further announcements before we move on okay then we are very excited to turn our attention to our first presentation related to diversity equity and inclusion I see we've got the slides at the ready and I'm happy to turn it over to Mary and Andrew while we transition I'd like to invite my esteemed colleagues our curriculum integration leaders Jocelyn livadini Kendra Collins and Candy Wilmot as well as my fellow erjc members Amita Singh and China Khan welcome thank you for joining us thank you all so I'm going to

015start off a little bit Mary and I will introduce some slides and then we'd very much look forward to hearing from our colleagues so tonight tonight we're going to share a little bit about the work of the EI in our district this year the work of the erjc here we go so uh we start with a slide that the board will have seen before I was warned that the clicker is a specially temperamental this evening or maybe it's on it's a lentil and all there we go so we we start with this word humility we've we've had this slide before um I've gotten accustomed to saying actually about all PowerPoints in general that I worry sometimes that power points give a kind of finished look to work that I always want to call out and

016say this work isn't finished yet I think it's particularly true in this area I think we have we've done a lot of work in the district this year and we can be proud of a lot of good work and we know we're at the beginning of a long journey journey that will probably be on for as long as we're working in our schools and we think it's just very very important to call that out and to say up front that we we present this work tonight with great humility um Browns thanks but now that we're back back with it quicker we'll move on and we provide a little bit of context to these again the slides that the board has seen in the past but we think it's important to set the context so New

017York State education department um provides a framework to all School Districts The culturally responsive sustaining education framework that gives guidance to districts around the state on why it's so important to do this work and how to go about creating a welcoming and affirming environment so that is a backdrop and then as we move to the next slide we remember that in 2021 in particular the New York State Board of Regents issued a call to action really asking and encouraging all school districts to engage actively in this work and we can be proud to say that we were already engaged in work at this time but it did maybe put it into an even higher gear and then you see the next slide here the policy that this variable would adopted uh Awards I think it

018was the end of that 2021 school year that the policy was adopted if I'm correct and this is how diversity equity and inclusion and education policy towards the end of this policy it does ask us to provide an annual update to the board so that's what we're doing here tonight and we've called out in particular over on the side one line from the policy I think in part because it was such a particular Focus this year and perhaps always will be but the policy asks us to review District policies and practices to ensure equity and access for all students with an intentional focus on vulnerable and marginalized populations and I think you'll see in the work ahead tonight that that was a particular focus in the work this year and particularly proud this year even

019though we talk about this presentation at Dei any or JC you'll see a lot of overlap tonight and a significant theme throughout the conversations that eoj has been having for the last couple years really found their way into the work of the schools and the individual schools this year so wonderful to see with that I will turn to Mary now you can click and talk double duty so as we we show many many times but we show this graphic just to really give a reminder that our learning commitment really is at the center of what we do but we've identified these three Focus areas Dei being one of them that really overlay every subject area every grade level so anytime we're planning a lesson or thinking about a new unit or a new course that

020might be added we're thinking about these lenses it's not that they all apply to everything but we really want to think about them in everything we do and consider them so just a little more context for that and we really think that they help the learning commitment come alive when we think about relevant learning and active engagement this is the place where we see that happening so tonight as Andrew mentioned we'll talk a little bit about the work in our schools and our three curriculum integration leaders will lead us through the work at each level so you can see some of what that looks like and also talk about the work of our equity and racial Justice committee erjc but as he mentioned this work is overlapping then I think we see that more this

021year than we've seen in the past which is nice to see so with that I will turn it over to Jocelyn livadini evening good evening welcome so I know we last we was already brought up but at our October Board of Education meeting we spoke about belonging and social emotional learning and that's where we really created the foundation to the elementary schools began the Year by focusing on identity and belonging with everyone so we did this through morning meetings that included greetings sharing collaborative activities and the point of that again was to just build community within each classroom but then across the K-5 grade levels in each School building so the students create identity webs I am statements and then they took the time to share and learn about each other and then schools also

022have their own ways of collecting information about all of the families and the idea behind that was if we really get to know our students and our families then we can create that greater sense of community across the district as well and again so that work the identity work and the sense of belonging Crea was provided the foundation upon which we built all of our Dei work for the year so this year I think you're going to see on the next slide each school's compact team focused on Dei and each team was comprised of Administrators staff members and family members or parents and the idea was that they wanted to create a shared vision and discuss needs and lessons related to Identity belonging and dignity so as Andrew mentioned we were Guided by the social

023justice standards the culturally responsive framework and our Board of Ed policy as well and our goal was to connect the school Community while bringing awareness about these topics through conversation student visuals bulletin boards and resources and I know we have some members but I can say that part being part of the compact team it was such a an honor just to kind of learn from the parents and see their Vision as well and partner with them so I'm really grateful so we just have a couple of examples um in the slides that you'll see so first you're going to see this morning of the upcoming slides but you'll see beautiful photos I believe yes the clearing displays okay so the compact teams were amazing and unbelievably resourceful and at each school they developed um these

024memorable bulletin boards which we like to call learning boards and they recognize diversity in a multitude of ways so they talked about different family structures they talked about skin colors different cultures celebrations heritages I mean you can't deny beautiful um they put all the teachers to shame we've told them that a thousand times um but again we wanted the boards to create these welcoming and affirming learning environments in each School and they changed monthly or bi-monthly and we wanted the students to see visuals or short biographies about noteworthy individuals and that way it was a learning experience for everyone including the staff as well and then interestingly the bulletin boards were continuously highlighted that the teachers used them as tools and reference points some people brought their classes down there some people just use them

025as talking points and the students would talk about it when we passed by them in the hallway as well um in addition you can go back if you want the common reads I also brought them in case you're interested um so these are just a few of the common reads that each classroom um each that all teachers are required to read in their classrooms across the district and some of the favorite books they changed in different schools but these are only if you have some of the favorite books were what I am the story of you hopefully and what it means to be free a friend like you um and I think just to kind of take a step back we always talk about social emotional learning and diversity acting inclusion but this is where

026you really see all of the work linked together and how they really are just one common thread and so all of these books and other books were chosen intentionally to help educate students on becoming understanding empathetic and supported students with their families but also with their classmates um and then on the next one yes this one so in addition to the common reads um students had windows and mirror opportunities to during read aloud's book groups and independent reading times and the books could have been from classroom libraries our school libraries um and I know we've explained this previously but we're just people that don't know the common language that we use is Amir is when a student can open and read a book and the book May reflect their Identity or their or similar experiences

027that they've had and then Windows is the language that we use when they may learn when they open the book but they may learn about the lies or experiences of something that they cannot personally relate to um or it may be different from their own and so these books again they help students learn about understand empathize and support one another and so the specific slide this is a picture of the suggested summer reading list that our library media specialists at the elementary level created and they compiled a list of I believe it's picture books chapter books and non-fiction books that they loved and they wanted to recommend to all the families um in addition we also had several assemblies at the elementary levels some of the assemblies where um they brought everyone together to build

028the community and I think that's so important at the K-5 level especially um and then other assemblies brought in guest speakers so one example is um KES had sophisticated ladies to highlight the music work of Duke Ellington and then another example is Julie Hoffman she's the library media specialist at increased Miller but then she also get ready this is a long name she's also the District library media curriculum integration leader um I had to write it down inside and she organized Eric Velasquez to visit each Elementary School which is amazing that it was a Common Thread across the three schools so Eric I wrote down a few notes about him he's the illustrator and author of over 30 children's books that are highly acclaimed many of which are non-fiction and they tell a story of

029important diverse historical characters of historical figures or important events and then he's also proud of his Pro Latino Heritage and rights fictional picture books about characters that are based on his own childhood and family experiences two more really quick things I promise um we wanted to note at the elementary level where in the curriculum this work is being done so just a few examples uh the cumulative project you may already know about this fifth grade students were able to choose a civil rights movement in order to study that they are personally interested in so some of the topics included that they could choose from Title IX Americans with Disabilities Act immigration lgbtq plus indigenous people black lives matter and Mexican-American civil rights and then even special Area Teachers highlighted um diverse culture celebrations and individuals

030during their time so I believe it was January Board of Education meeting April Higgins presented and so you already know but she and her team of Music instructors did an amazing job of intentionally choosing more inclusive pieces um of music that represented a variety of composers genres and styles of music and then finally faculty meetings I know this will be touched on later but just very very quick Elementary level they were held each month to continue professional development for all of the staff and then this is when resources and padlets were given to staff members and they were created by a bunch of different people such as administrators staff members staff developers that are here right now and integration leaders and they the resources included read alouds videos professional articles and more I know this

031will probably be said tonight but there's always more work to be done we can all acknowledge that but I am very proud of Elementary and how far we've come from where we started I think that we've done an amazing job and you could see the growth from the beginning of the year especially thank you yeah we will move on to middle school with Kendra Collins it's never fair that I get to follow her um I believe as I said in October my my goal for this year was to create a more joyful climate of belonging through the iconography of our school um and to support our teachers in creating more Equitable classroom experience for our students so as an art teacher I started by using my art skills to create beautiful learning boards you can

032see two of them up there uh and little mini museums featuring items collected from our staff's personal collections so that middle school students of all identities would feel welcomed celebrated and affirmed throughout the year we've used the morning announcements to teach about important people and events that are crucial to the heritage month that we are celebrating I've collected articles for teachers please I've collected articles for teachers created printable imagery for classrooms and collected resources that can be used with students and it's shared in this padlet with all of the staff members at the middle school it's my hope that this foundation will help teachers to internalize our message of Dei and be more open to thinking about ways to integrate Dei and SEL into their curriculum already thank you already we've seen six great art

033classes create murals like this one uh that celebrate diversity inclusion and togetherness our Ela classes six through eight are reading about diverse experiences from around the world written by authors of all identities and making powerful connections our social studies classes our learning history from multiple perspectives throughout all of our classes and all of our grades identity work can be seen with students sharing personal stories and honoring each other's individuality our clubs and after school activities are available for students to create diverse Community Connections in a joyful less structured way such as my Saga club and our best buddies Club this year we've also had the great edition of roadie the therapy dog at the middle school as a therapy dog team rhodie and I have seen the change that she's created we visited classes where

034students are working on their proficiency and confidence in reading and writing her non-gental non-judgmental ear she's very gentle I apologize there's a powerful reinforcer and it has been great fun to go into some of our special classes and watch kids throughout the year gain their confidence read to her um tell her stories write stories for her students who were school avoidant now come to school every morning to greet her before school and in a middle school where adolescents are diverse and sometimes avoid each other the greatest pleasure has been to see them all gather around her to get a little scratch in and not care who they're standing next to I've even experienced firsthand a very quiet very withdrawn girl who doesn't make eye contact look me right in the eye smile this huge smile

035and ask me questions about roadie which is a huge change since she's been there I've enjoyed this role greatly and seeing the change that it has created and I'm looking forward to more next year and there's our beautiful pride month thank you beautiful thank you thank you now we'll hear a little bit about the high school from Candy World nuts if Rhody needs a circle you can bring her hi everyone um so we can start out by talking about how the high school has gone Circle crazy and uh we spend a lot of time uh thinking about how circles uh can make us more uh aware of who we are emotionally but also as a community of care and when we think about SEL we can't disconnect it from Dei when we think about how

036circles serve a purpose because because it's a circle it's inclusive and it asks us to suspend hierarchies and talk to each other and look each other in the eye and when you do that you see each other and you hear each other so the work with circles are continuing we did we've moved to doing some surveys with teachers and overwhelmingly teachers see circles as useful in building a community of care we also did a survey with students and overwhelmingly students believe that that circles help help them build a community of care not just with each other but with the adults in the space as well so we're happy to you know that's important work and kind of scary sometimes because you don't know how it's going to turn out but uh we we're happy to

037know that um the outcomes are pretty good in terms of it doesn't mean that the work is done we still have lots of work I think the second picture Mary if you go back I believe that's our iconography Club um that's a nice picture should I talk about that next I don't know what the pictures uh so uh I'm gonna go in the order I'm going to follow this is the mural right since you mentioned so we had an iconography club that was primarily our enl students but we had several gen ed students that participated in it as well Davis Santiago who is an enl teacher here was the lead for this work and uh what I loved about it was that it was not just a mural that ask students to paint or you

038know draw a sketch and then paint but it really was an opportunity for them to learn about the characters that they were they were putting here and who in in highlighting it they decided to name the mural Trailblazers appropriately um and the students were able to talk about who each of the characters were and how you know how much they learned and I thought that was an important piece um especially in thinking about Equity pedagogy and it not being episodic I think it's more important for our kids to know right and then do as opposed to just sort of engaging in something that could be perceived as performative so that is the mural it's hanging in the cafeteria if you get a chance so the summer read last year was loving you big this year

039it's bus 57 so as you know for the we do a community read every year it's usually chosen by the English Department and then all of us read it and engage students in a discussion whenever possible we try to have an author the author come in and talk to us about it as well and we do have something planned uh in September for that as well um we have a student-run group um well it's not a student-run group but it's a group of students called lead that uh we're trying to make sure that students are involved in leadership and mentorship of each other and tied into circles the lead group went down this um when was that Jake what was that where do we go it seems so long ago we went to the middle

040school was it early may I think so we all went down to the Middle School to to train eighth graders in circles and it was kind of a big deal because we didn't know we were terrified and we didn't know what was going to happen but both the uh students that came from the high school and the eighth graders enjoyed it and learned a lot um around you know how circles might help the middle school and I believe we just had our first training with a middle school or circles as well I just mentioned the iconography group we continue to work with Facing History and ourselves which is a group that has existence in 1975 again involved in this idea of Facing History and ourselves building awareness but then also asking us to think about

041issues of teaching for justice Etc we do work with Bard College in the English Department thinking about how to combine iconic texts with bypoc tax so that we're not just sort of sprinkling texts in whenever we can or if it's a holiday but thinking about how to consistently integrate iconic texts and bypoc text so they tell a full story of history that highlights marginalized people in a way that's appropriate we have African-American history course that's going to come to the high school next year and we have a couple of teachers that are going to audit that as well so that they can support the Lead Teacher to think about how to be reflective in that process since we're not expert of course we have a saga Club he just heard about Dan Longhurst we have

042a soccer club for enl students which is a big deal um school assembly with Paul Forbes we had Paul Forbes come in and then we broke up in circles we used circles and the information that Paul helping us to think about empathy we have a unified basketball team and if you haven't gone to see them play It's amazing so a lot of our students with special needs and our gen ed students come on and help out as well and it's a blast and that's really Kim piccolino's thing but it's a really really cool cool cool experience if you have the time to come and see picture from one of our games this year at unified basketball that's Casey is 33. uh we always have a club Fair um we have I mean that was a

043lot of fun I don't know what else to say about that except that we have several some of our clubs and diversity this absolutely our Spanish club the Lakota Club so there's opportunities for students to engage in a variety of different ways at the high school Andy and then we think about professional learning that we've done over the course of the year since last year so over the summer there are several book study groups candy offered a few last summer some will be offered again this year at our superintendent's conference stays this year all Forbes started us off on opening day with all faculty and staff talking about implicit bias awareness training um he specifically doesn't like to call it anti-bias because he feels that we all have biases and we need to be aware

044of them in order to counteract them so that's interesting as well Paul came back to us in November he did one of our Keynotes and he also did some small groups in addition to the work he did in the high school with some of the students faculty meetings as was mentioned work with our external staff developers as well as our internal staff developers and some of the organizations that we work with and they're you know helping to share resources help us think about how we can incorporate Dei into everything that we do and then we have a unit design template that we have been encouraging more and more especially as teachers do summer curriculum work and they're developing new units and within those in addition to identifying the state standards in the discipline or content

045area we asked them to look at things like the social justice standards like New York State some SEO benchmarks as well which relate so it's helpful in terms of thinking about integrating it into all subject areas Andy did you want to add something I'm sorry I was I was going to talk about the book clubs that we're offering which is the unit unique this year we're doing introduction to gender and sexuality sexuality but we're also doing and that's really to bring awareness to teachers so that if they are face to face with students who may be you know um not necessarily out or gay or but lgbtq but there's an opportunity for them to learn and get a better understanding of the students they serve and the next one is this is how this is

046how it always is and it's about raising a transgender child and as we know more and more we're seeing students who are transitioning and teachers don't necessarily have the capacity for that so we're trying to build awareness through those um those uh summer uh workshops so just wanted to let you know that in that in that same category just this week New York State Department published new guidelines for schools around gender and transgender issues in particular they had originally published in guidance back in 2013 it's been now updated and expanded in terms of response to new knowledge and new understandings and new experiences and so we'll certainly it's a it's a very useful document no matter what level people are at in terms of their learning the next slide just touches a little bit on

047some of the Leadership Learning that's going on in our district has been going on and continues the book there that's highlighted on the left on the left belonging through a culture of dignity is a terrific book that our administrators are reading currently and that we'll be discussing together this summer uh it really gets at the kind of very personal nature of this work and the kind of reflection that's necessary for each of us individually to move the work forward book talks about some of the errors actually that school districts make in trying to do Dei work in more traditional ways so it's a good read I think it will be a good read for all of us and then the slide also just highlights some of the work that's already happened you've heard Paul Forbes

048name he worked with us last summer as an administrative team he was available to administrators throughout the year and they certainly did consult with him a variety of different issues and that as you see that went on throughout the year so the learning necessarily continues now I'm gonna hear from others so Amita um we thought to talk about the work of our equity and racial Justice thank you Mary um hello everyone so um I'm a member of the equity and racial Justice committee also known as erjc um the members of this committee are students um parents the faculty and administrators so that's the larger committee and then the structure of the committee is such that we also we all fall into one of the three subgroups so there's three subgroups this year um Community engagement

049the student engagement and school environment the larger committee so the entire committee meets well last year at least we met about four times a year and then the subgroups meet more frequently between those those um larger group meetings and I guess so some of the outcomes of this year's work um is there was a web page developed and if you can get a screenshot of that web page that has just gone live is that correct um and so this is a site that's intended to reflect the work of the committee um and it's it will be updated regularly as as we keep moving forward and as Justin said um there's still a lot more work to be done and we recognize that and the effort will continue on that um so the committee is it's

050it's evolved into um a place where the community comes together the the entire school district and the community comes together whoever participates at those meetings and it um we work together and the work is sort of increasingly becoming intertwined with what happens in the schools so there is um it's a great place to come and express other concerns or ideas and also to develop solutions to problems that maybe our children are facing in the school district so um I can I will talk about the community engagements at the subgroup the community engagement subgroup because I'm a member of that group and I think Mary you'll talk about the other subgroups is that correct oh and China will talk about the student engagement and China will talk about student group um so that the community engagement

051group again this is uh it's interesting we had some accomplishments uh this year um a number of us on the erjc are also members of the compact teams that Jocelyn had mentioned a little to the compact teams of the school level Dei committees and so again the work that's done one of one of the accomplishments was at KES the The KES compact committee invited Andromeda Klein to present her talk on Growing Up Jazz which is um something this is I believe the second year that the students have received that of the fifth graders and last year the fifth graders this year was the fourth and fifth grade as a KES and it's a wonderful talk about the history uh black history through the lens of jazz and it was so well received we did it

052again this year with the fourth and fifth graders and we were lucky enough to actually even offer it to the parents so that was that was a really good assumption we hope to continue to offer such speaker engagements and so that's that that's that's an example of the outcome of the community subgroup um we also had so last year there was a book study um it was the person you mean to be by Dolly chug and a um and we did have a small a very small group uh small group book review again membership is voluntary and so whoever participates and shows up the the the work um happens uh with those members and um like I said earlier we you know this this work there's a lot more work to be done we recognize

053that and um some of the challenges that we see or we face is that we would like to have more membership so it encouraged the parents and the larger Community to to join erjc and help um develop this work and enhance this work and be a part of the the solutions that we come up with to help make our school district a better school district about this work goes and I think that's it and I hand it over to China thank you all right hello um I just wanted to start off by talking about also our larger erjc meetings um I really enjoy these meetings as many of the members from all three of our subgroups can join and speak on what they've been doing and sorry um and it's just an open space to

054communicate and in one of our um previous meetings just a couple of nights ago we had a really good open discussion about many topics surrounding diversity and equity and including like the pride flags that have been raised at all of our schools which is really cool and it was great to just hear so many different viewpoints from members of the era JC and having been part of the erjc for two years I'm really passionate in like diversity and equity and all these issues and sometimes as a student it feels as though like a lot of things aren't in our control but every time I go to the erjc meetings I see teachers administrators parents like all coming together and trying to work on these issues and take action on these matters so I think it's

055just really inspiring to go to the meetings and speaking more about my experience on student engagement so we started this year with intellectually stimulating prompts and brainstorming ideas on exactly what we thought student engagement was and the community that we formed by doing that was really great because everybody had a place to speak their truth and feel listened to as everybody's just great and our most recent discussions have focused more on creating Affinity groups which is a group formed around a shared background or identity and we haven't made a decision on actually implementing the Affinity groups in school yet but we still talk about this and we also want to reach out to other schools and follow their models as well to see the best course of action and I wanted to mention um kind

056of to am at this point that a crucial part of student engagement does include the students ourselves so I think it'd be great to try to incorporate more students and members into the erjc next year as we did have a few students in the group including myself and I think that student opinion is really what is very valued in erjc and I know Alex and Neil do a great job of running our subgroup because they always value our own opinions and always take everyone's thoughts into consideration and the same can be said for everybody in our subgroup and in the erjc um so I think we've started creating really good ideas and with more students and members in the mix we receive more input and diversity of opinions and this really just helps working toward

057our shared goal of equity and racial Justice thank you and today I'll turn it over to Neil to talk a little bit about the work that human resources has been doing yeah thank you good evening everyone nice to be here and and thrilled Bill to talk about human resources and a little bit how I see it uh really through the lens of deib and the functions of Human Resources when it comes to the recruitment the hiring and the retention of all our staff um so just a little background before I run through the points here um but the the first point there of the Partnerships with outside organizations um have had a thrilling moment of being able to join a couple classes at Medgar Evers University or college which is an HBCU in in Brooklyn

058and being able to speak to students there and talk about the work here in Katonah Lewis Borough and much to your point in the beginning Andrew about humility and that it seems we put things on um slideshows it seems very glossy and I'm very quick to say you know we don't have it figured out but we're committed to figuring it out and uh we'd love for you to apply so that's been just really eye-opening to speak to students who are really working toward their bachelor's degree which is also an accelerated progress in credentialing uh at Medgar Evers and really exciting work that's going on down there um the LHC Spa is really is the lower Hudson Council School Personnel administrator so it really is HR people in the region it's simple way of saying that

059for the last 15 years we've been able to participate uh myself and some other administrators in a diversity hiring Fair which usually takes place in late February or early March um and it's kind of a whirlwind I think for the candidates um and we interview so around 15 to 25 people depending on what we have opened at that moment and the number of candidates that we can actually see with the number of people we're interviewing but actually the good news is uh there's a lot of good news is participating in that and being connected to that organization but there is a person on tonight's agenda who we're hiring who is a direct result of um our presence at the diversity hiring Fair uh back in early March so definitely a point of Pride for all

060of us that that served on that committee we're always looking for more creative ways to get the word out there about Katona lewisboro we have our external up who seems to Olas which is a system that most districts use but we're always looking for other ideas nemnet is another one and that's our regionally based minor they call themselves a minority hiring platform and we've had a couple candidates from there but it's it's might be situated in the wrong region in the country to really support our where we are and also handshake has been a little bit fruitful in driving candidates to US versus an Alumni network we're able to post our postings and vacancies sometimes on on handshake but we're still working out some of the some of the some of the Kinks to that

061I've also taken um some steps in updating the HR website and making sure that there's um that the words there reflect our values to commit to inclusion equity and belonging uh I'm not driving anyone there there's a little video of me well because we know that candidates um look for these things and and we want to see what districts and organizations are doing and it really just says welcome and if you have any questions reach out to me I have had candidates um apply just seeing that video um and saying you know someone out there cares that we're applying and it adds a little extra Personal Touch to that I'm certainly looking for improvements all the time we've also embedded Equity based I'll call them equity-based questions during the interview process and and Jocelyn you

062mentioned the work of um Dr redeem Sims Bishop of Windows and mirrors so sometimes candidates might be asked about how they've Incorporated windows and mirrors into their classroom and what they have done to bring a sense of belonging into their classroom or whatever experience they've had uh so we're definitely connecting some of the things we're doing in HR to uh where we how we hire people to what's already going on and what we value in the school system uh about I'd say six weeks ago uh we opened up uh listening and belonging interviews for anyone in the district any employee in the district who wanted to come to speak with me one-on-one or a diad or a small small Department uh trying to keep it under three or four people just to keep it manageable

063but really the idea is um the whole idea about the listening and belonging interviews um is really based on this concept um a lot of people I think promote it but I think some of the scholars that I really attribute to is Shane sapier and Jamila Dugan who've written extensively just about the work of how listening and belonging and the real Act of listening can not only bring about healing but it also is generally it's a generative act because in in your listening to people you're able to to generate multiplicity of stories and perspectives which then allows us to uncover and and unearth um what's actually going on which helps us reimagine which helps move us forward so over 50 people have participated in that process and it and we're still in the act of

064listening for another six days uh and then we're always listening for the listening and belonging and I'm sure we'll do it again next year uh we're able then uh we'll be moving it into the next phase of of me going through my my notes and uh thinking about it with uh Andrew and and how we go forward um the last two years also engaged in one-on-one meteor check-ins with all new staff um it's not obligatory but they all uh like to come and speak and it's really to just get a sense of how are things going are you okay and no really are you okay um and making you know checking on their well-being and letting them know how much we care about them and how important their success is to all of us and

065what can we do to help what we can do to support and uh it's not um in any way meant to be intimidating and then this helps inform our work for how we onborn people um and and connecting people with the right resources sometimes in February people are still looking for where to go and how to do something and not sure who to reach out to so just making sure they they know they have people in all the central Administration to speak to and air some of their concerns um starting in the summer of 22 um we again another video that the police don't watch but unless they're on an interview committee um is uh a hiring for excellence uh unconscious bias video and it really is to say to people if you're joining us

066for an interview whether you're a staff member or a parent or a student um is to be here are some some of the major biases that are out there and here's how and you have them because you're a person and here's how they interfere with the hiring process so we certainly talk about gender bias we talk about racial blessings uh facial bias as well um but also things like Affinity bias so you might see someone if you're sitting on an interview committee you might see someone walk into the room with um something on their computer that's your alma mater and automatically you're connected to that person because oh you went to that University me too and then right there you're more likely to confirm all the good things they're saying and ignore some of the

067things that that might be might be negative um so just making people aware of not only that but also within 30 seconds you're making your brain is making judgments of people before they even sit down catch their breath and talk and and how can we counteract that in the interview process when we know it's one of the most important functions that we can do in a district um the last one there is highlighting we've also highlighted on tenured staff but making sure and just recently and we did this last June as well it's sending out a HR newsletter highlighting the the just recently and newly tenured staff and celebrating them around the district knowing that not everyone can come to tenure night and really just making sure that their pictures and their identities are known

068throughout the district um which is um you know we got a lot of uh looks on those newsletters when we send those out and just to pick up where candy uh talked a little about circles um is that in a formal life I was trained in circles and now I'm picking up again in connection with the same organization um that the high school has used and I'm doing my own training and out connects to human resources and how to bring kind of continue to reimagine human resources and how we resolve conflicts and to really bring about that sense of belonging on Circles of Care and a sense of healing when and when conflicts arise that's the work on the horizon thank you thank you we should mention too wasn't on the slides but the Middle

069School faculty and staff are being trained this week the state yesterday and the day before correct in uh circles as well so that's something we're looking forward to for next year so that's the end of our presentation so we'll open it up for your questions thank you we really appreciate this overview um we respect and agree that there's always work to be done and I think it's incredibly rewarding to see the manner in which this work has really I'll say germinated in each of the schools and to hear from ambassadors from our Equity of racial Justice committee I'm already thinking you know how can we help you with membership and we want to be supportive we've had the opportunity to see some of the amazing work that was spoken about tonight when we've been in

070the buildings we've admired the bulletin boards that are just um so educational it's it you know it's incumbent upon you to stop in front of those boards and to really immerse yourself in the history and the learning that's there and it's so beautifully done in all of the buildings the murals um we we have not had the opportunity to to see some of these um Community engagement experiences that you've shared with us in the future we would love to join you and to support the work in that manner also thank you for sharing with us the presentation that was so popular that you brought it back again for students that's and parents that's amazing um and hearing also how it's extending into your work in HR and the manner in which we engage with our

071staff it you know I think it's safe to say we're hearing a systemic comprehensive vision for how we want to incorporate this work for every student and staff member in every classroom and building and yes there is so much more to be done and we have come really long way and that is so rewarding to see and thank you all for being willing to share with us from your respective levels and from the erjc committee um you've really painted a very hopeful picture of the present and the future and where we're striving to go and I'm reminded of the icon at the beginning for the learning commitment where we've got these Focus areas because I think it's reminiscent of how we felt about the district's commitment to sustainability where for a time it was a

072small group of people having conversations and then you know eventually it germinated and seems to have become more systematic and um involving and engaging students and parents that's wonderful thank you really really hopeful impressive presentation I'm happy to turn it over to board colleagues for questions or comments yeah maybe maybe I'll go um I was really impressed by the common reads it's so nice to hear that there's commonality across our three elementary schools and I do think this topic is particularly important that they're sort of learning the same Foundation regardless of which school they're in so I was really delighted to hear that um in the middle school I loved hearing about the patent resources and about Roadie and well done for introducing Rory to the Middle School sounds like she's having a wonderful impact

073there um I guess County I for I you you said something that really caught my ear you were talking about circles and the community of care which I really love that phrase um but you you said well yeah the outcomes are pretty good and that sort of got my my bill mind tricking a little bit like well how do we measure the outcomes I mean I'm sure the outcomes are pretty good but have we thought of ways in which we can sort of measure the positive impact that we're having and maybe I'll give you a minute to think about that but I just wanted to recognize that you're saying erjc movement um similarly I I question how we can get more Community engagement I think it's a wonderful idea and I know there's a subcommittee

074working on that but it feels like we have opportunities maybe in the in the local press or I don't know aligning with the town or something like that I really feel like you know there's there's good ways to get our message and get more people involved and I really applaud all of the efforts there um and similarly engaging with students saying I thought you know are there ways within the school that we can really try to identify students who would either benefit or enjoy the work or or you know I'm sure that you guys are thinking about that but it seems super important and I know that everybody who participates in the USAG erjc really enjoys what they do both at the macro level and then down at the subcommittee level um it seems to

075just one of them received so yeah I guess my question really is are there ways that we can measure all of this goodness that's going on and and build build more awareness around it that's a great question and that's part of the work that we do when we engage with circles first of all it's not just teachers that get trained the Administration has trained uh trained as well and what we uh tier two asks so we get trained again uh the 21st and the 22nd of June so there are three tiers so we did tier one which was a community building so this idea of building a community of care and so the surveys that I mentioned before where we surveyed teachers and students separately we ask questions like do you feel like the community

076has changed as a result of circles do you feel more connected uh so questions about uh this idea of a community of care and then we we then pay attention to that of course um the outcomes there were very positive so we did we thought okay when do we do another survey so that in conjunction with RJ Ed which is the organization that we work with we think about how do we approach tier two training which asks us now as teachers and as for also um Administration as well how do we deal with minor infractions so one of the conversations that have come up is we have a detention program at the high school and um we're looking at maybe getting rid of detention because attention is usually for minor infractions and thinking about how

077teachers might deal with that at the classroom level and if it gets If It Moves beyond the classroom level how we can change that process not using something like detention and so then we have to evaluate that so part of the work we do this year is about how do we assess how we're handling infractions so it's always ongoing and building on the information that we have but we were just satisfied this year to do the survey to get that feedback from staff and that's not to say a hundred percent I think what we're looking at is really a very small percentage for teachers thinking about the effectiveness and saying you know maybe it's not so good for us but overwhelmingly students said that they love circles and that's not to say that what teachers

078say you know isn't important but what that informs us to do is how do we then help teachers who are struggling with being vulnerable or like letting go of the sense of hierarchy what kind of work do we do with them so that circles can be more effective for them so that's how we're using the information um thank you for the presentation it's really exciting to hear all the work and um to see it sort of internally within the school as well as the erjc work that's so complementary um and you mentioned again that people you're looking for more members so How might people find and join erjc a great question you want to take that one we talked about that the other night actually so um I think one of the things we can

079do on the website we haven't done yet because it's brand new we could just create a link there but generally in the late summer early fall we send out a community-wide invitation and we invite people to come join us so people can watch for that invitation but then I think we also want to make a place where people can always know they can go and find a way to find us so there's a couple thoughts and then probably keep talking about other ways I think word of mouth too you know and if we can then say you know someone's been on ERJ say oh you should think about joining and you can go to the district website and look for this link um yeah we also Loosely mentioned branding and there might be a member

080or two who is might incorporate some of their marketing and art skills into kind of branding so let me get the words out then it's nothing noticeable for people I loved all the visual stuff really really beautiful and discussion worthy um another question I need another minute to think about it it's exhausted okay I found this very moving I had said it before and setting like this I don't think we should take for granted that we can have conversations like this there's areas of the country probably areas of the state where you can't have conversations like this without an argument or the country came and used some of the words that are used it also makes me think about how I think I'm the oldest around this table I'm older than some of you combined

081around the table um how how different things are you know when I uh if you got rid of detention in high school it would have freed up a lot of my afternoon you know just you know the level of the conversation that is available and doable today is Light Years uh different than it was let's say even in the 70s and 80s and it makes one hopeful that you know whatever the battles are today in 30 years they'll say gee why was that such a problem remember when you know and it progress can't happen it happens slowly speaking of slow progress I noticed in one of the slides a Met fan corner there um and it is a underrepresented much more iron I agree with celebrating that but being a Met fan I tend to

082look at the negative and the dark side of things um not so much the negative but I'm wondering any of the levels has there been a an area a topic that is a little bit more uphill than the others so for example you know maybe it's not race maybe it's not homosexuality maybe it's transgender is where there's a little bit more either misunderstanding or student or family um you know a little bit more resistance or uphill battle than it is for some things I can address that question I think at the high school um race and gender is still big I think we're okay with um uh the term this idea of um being gay but if we were to create a try a pyramid being transgender would be at the bottom of that even

083in that group in the lgbtq group so there's a lot of um I think lack of awareness about it or certainly people in our generation and your generation as well and the idea that um we often are afraid of what we don't know and there's this idea of you know like if you hang out with a caterpillar you might become one you know so uh we're trying to build awareness and I think it goes back to this idea of not being episodic but really trying to think about Equity pedagogy as normalized and so we're not doing it just you know for pride month but really thinking about one of the things that we did at the high school and we're doing next year as well is this idea of auditing courses and really asking ourselves

084when do kids get to see themselves and or you know their backgrounds culturally or gender or sexuality wise you know how long does it take us before we get to that scope of things um and if we're asking teachers to do that we're really asking to build Consciousness and awareness around the idea of what it means to be diverse in action and not just prepping for a time in history so yeah I would I would argue that definitely talking about transgendered students um and race is still a big I mean even even in the medical world um there is not Universal agreement that uh you know what does it mean to be transgender and you know it's it's beyond ridiculous to to think that it's volitional or something but that it does sound like the

085same argument the same debates that were around homosexuality maybe 20 25 years ago you know if you if you have the wrong friends you'll you'll become gay if you're if you mention the word they'll become transgender and it is fear um I am I am hopeful I'm just imagining what these kids in the elementary school you know when they pick up the messes we we're we've we've left them uh I am hopeful that for them this will be like gee that was just why was that such a problem the way we might look at some things today I could just say that one of the compact team members made a comment the other day and said that she feels so lucky because she is a kindergartner it's coming it didn't come in kindergarten she said

086she's so lucky that that kindergartner will never go A Year Without pride and it was I thought it was just such a beautiful comment yeah yeah wow um I also was really struck we were talking about the um the teaching at KES that then extended to the community and um just even the conversation now thinking about how I think I learned from my own children I imagine we all learn from the students who are kind of leading and ahead of us on some of these issues that are maybe newer or different or different language and how we kind of continue to Center that and also have what the learning that's happening and the student kind of LED stuff radiate it sounds like it's really happening in the school and that integration into pedagogy not just

087episodic was really moving but also how it radiates out into the community and really excited to hear more about that and see more of that and opportunities for the community to kind of engage and like the the students and the school being the center of that for more Community Learning don't know whether this would broaden the scope of the erjc too significantly but another dimension of this that I can't help but think about because we're having this conversation in the context of a western democracy is that public trust in democracy and institutions like public education government and media is you know on the on the Wayne and um Civics instructions Civics education um you know inspiring students I loved the example of students having Choice with respect to civil rights movements um you know and

088thinking about other ways to get community members and students really excited thinking about their role as Citizens and with respect to this work may be taking a step back and thinking about how we can be using this work towards our you know even more I'll call it generic nevertheless foundational mission of graduating the best possible citizens that we can and it feels as if there is an onus on us to also be thinking a little bit about a Civics component from my perspective because you know that's it's just a problematic area for Society right now so just it's just another potential prong that might capture somebody's interest and help them feel excited in a different way came to mind merger do you see that as part of ERG erjc you're as part of di work

089or would that be something that would be I can think of it in the context of either or both just thinking back to the policy that we started with at the beginning of the presentation and the commitment to examining our practices I think that does extend to curriculum so it could potentially be in our schools and we heard a little bit about social studies curriculum at the middle school also that's evolving through the lens of telling history through multiple viewpoints which is different than an explicit focus on Civics and I'm not saying that one is right one is wrong saying they both potentially can be you know productive for students and I can also see where it could be something to think about you know we've talked about voter turnout we've talked about you know

090things related to Civic responsibilities and that could just be another point of entry potentially if we're thinking a little bit about you know how to promote the work how to Brand the work get people excited about the work it's just another dimension that occurs to me yeah I mean hearing you say that makes me think about another band around our visual of like Civics maybe encompassing the whole thing of like one of the like inherent parts of public education is teaching people how to become citizens in an informed democracy and what would it be like for us to add that into our learning explicitly thank you thank you if there are no further questions or comments we really thank you best wishes for a smooth end of the school year and thank you please come

091back and continue the dedication to the work and let us support you in ways that hopefully we have already and in new ways because we would love to come to some of these events as appropriate and read some of the books we didn't get to read the books we brought tonight but don't think for a second we didn't want to I don't know if you can fight with them for a couple of days but um you know please keep sharing this great work and allowing us to immerse ourselves as we can thank you and we'll see China and I'll see you shine on yeah yeah thank you for joining us we look forward to seeing you again thank you have a great summer Marjo I would be remiss if I didn't mention we have some

092members of erjc some other members in the audience as well Lawrenceburg Indiana joining us this evening thank you thank you Mary thank you for being here and support thank you thank you terrific thank you so much to the committee the erjc committee and to our staff and students for this presentation Welcome to our Architects as we are transitioning um with an alacrity to our next presentation you missed our comments earlier tonight but we are very much looking forward to hearing an update um where we last left off publicly was our September 8th meeting I think where we were talking about the capital Bond project and it's my pleasure to turn it over to you Danelle thank you great thanks why we're all getting settled here I just wanted to say that throughout the last couple

093months um this team along with um our other stakeholders have been involved in some great focus groups um that included all all of the elementary schools and secondary schools and then we had concentration focus groups such as our library projects at the elementary schools our science Wing here and we will continue those focus groups uh throughout this whole process we have a few scheduled for next week too with our consumer science program at the middle school and others throughout the the district um I want to thank all those who participated we had some great teacher turnout uh building level administrators students parents my board colleagues here who were on the facilities committee and other facility committee members showed up for those focus group so with that I'm going to turn this over to president of

094kg D Russ Davidson and I like to call them the two Lawrence and Richard margrath thank you welcome thank you for joining us and thank you for your patience it's a busy night tonight we really appreciate you being here I'm sure you have a busy night tonight too um so we're going to try and talk quickly um because you we know you have a big agenda and uh it's a it's a very big project and we didn't bring every image that we have created and we're not going to talk about everything um but uh it is very exciting um so uh Janelle already introduced our team uh Lauren Meyer focusing on the high school Richard margraft focusing on elementaries Lauren irons focusing on the middle school and a special guest on all Library design um

095the uh but this is the leadership of the team there's probably 30 professionals working on your project right now so we didn't bring everybody um but uh you have a surveyor civil engineers HVAC Engineers Structural Engineers um Plumbing electrical spec Rider cost estimators and you've also hired a construction manager who doesn't work for us but the um so we just wanted to go through some things and we have some things that are new and exciting um and we wanted to start with uh increase Miller so that little diagram on the upper right shows where the new classrooms are for increased Miller this is a little bit of a change from the pre-bond concept because we realized when we're trying to place this addition and work carefully with the administrators on where the addition goes it

096became clear that you actually have two kindergarten rooms in increased Miller that are substandard in size so rather than creating additional regular size classroom space the decision was made to create three kindergarten sized rooms to normalize them and it actually moves them a little bit closer together um sorry the so it's on this sort of Northwest side of the campus it doesn't require relocating the playground or any of that work um and it is interspersed with a small group uh instruction rooms and I'm going to let Richard talk a little bit about some of the interior images so this is a a rendering of the proposed interior of that room so sloping roof and take it away Richard can I just ask a real quick question with us on that so the existing two units

097that are there that are kind of the modular units that we were originally thinking about replacing are they remaining nope they're still going away they're going to go away it's just instead of adding three regular size classrooms where sort of the playground is we're adding three 900 square foot classrooms so they can be used for kindergarten or Pre-K yeah but we are going to remove the existing okay yes the the uh Rory those are a little hard to see but when it says modular classroom conditions removed oh I see okay yeah yeah yeah so the interior spaces here are highlighted by these wonderful wood trusses we've got this wonderful light looking out on your beautiful Northwestern side all three classrooms will have this view they'll get excellent light exposure but not too much of it

098the top light there is all fritted glass your classroom teaching wall is located on the corridor side it's highlighted here in the Blues and the yellows with the warm wood tone Cabinetry concealed behind those monitors and white boards is more storage which optimizes the space giving you this nice open area and it's very light filled and beautiful opposite side looking in the East Direction you can see that the classrooms lead out into the hallway previous image we were looking at two doors there one led to a toilet room one led to the sgis and they sort of Railroad Flat together where you can go straight through all through the rooms so that if needed it can be done again it's a classroom SGI classroom SGI classroom so it's a nice linking between the program there

099which as Russ mentioned is 900 square feet instead of a 770 as a normal classroom so it's a nice spacious good space with student toilet rooms for the kindergarten rooms built in and that sloping roof actually faces South so that's ideal for solar panels and the outside we think is uh going to be pretty attractive we're looking at a brick exterior um again those upper Windows facing north have fritted glass which is like a um it's kind of like that little band at the top of your windshield it diffuses the light so you get nice even daylight without glare so we think these rooms actually can be a hundred percent daily um we're also renovating um and updating all of the wing space at increased Miller and Meadow Pond and uh we're we're sort of

100rebuilding what are called The Bump out rooms to create one small group instruction room in each wing space in a more orderly and designed way and then the Interiors of those will also be updated Richard the updates in the wing spaces are almost all the same we're updating we're removing the existing flooring and updating it with um something that would probably resemble this nice plank colored pattern we're updating the lighting in here and refreshing it with some of the furniture that the district has already invested in organizing in a way that makes more sense so that when you Traverse the spaces you basically enter into a corridor passing the SGI room and open into a wide Active Space which can be utilized by the classrooms activated by one classroom or multiple at the same time

101as you can see it's a pretty nice open space and it'll be air conditioned yes I was just gonna ask I don't see if it's down below and heat pump systems on the ceilings here maybe that's just left we don't like to render those foreign and so that's another view of the wing space um so at all the elementaries the library and the sort of stream Lab are being renovated and Lauren maybe you can talk about the principles that are being used in each one of those one of the main things that all three schools wanted to make sure was their book count could be included in this space they gave us their current number they gave us the minimum they're going to reduce to and we actually met and exceeded that so we're able

102in these proposed plans fit more books than they need to reduce um some key features is keeping a wall between the stream Lab and the library space but replacing the existing glazing that's there the glass wall and replacing it with more insulated uh glass panels so that the noise doesn't travel as um through as the current one does so it makes those spaces a little quieter from each other and another key thing in each of the three schools is the new librarian's desk instead of these large built-in desks that the Librarians aren't really using as much they want to interact with the students more we're providing mobile Furniture desks that can be placed anywhere in the room that they need to based off their program so that they can remain flexible in the space and

103within the library we're providing a flexibility of multiple types of bookshelves either tall stacking ones that fit about five shelves or three stack ones that can either be mobile or reuse the existing we have a a variety of flex seating in the room where there's a classroom space a reading Nook um some movable pods really can increase the flexibility of the use of this room without these larger fixed bookcases and then the stream Lab we're proposing a small room where there is a video opportunity for the kids where they have a green space where they can create these videos they don't have to worry about equipment getting in the way of current program and we provide a lot of flexible Furniture in this space to use for different programming and a fun feature we put

104in these rooms is having glass windows that either connect to a corridor or adjacent space so if somebody's walking by they can see what fun is happening in the room and display the kinds of projects or equipment that the kids will be using so Meadow Pond is a similar approach it was really good actually to get all the Librarians together and so there's a real commonality between all three elementaries and some Equity there so it has the green screen room the window to the card or in case of metal Pond the classroom space flexible seating mobile instructor's desk and obviously the space is going to be all updated air conditioned and you know new finishes and um we're starting to launch into the colors but this is some of the images of the Meadow Pond

105approach and then uh back to Lauren at Katana Elementary there's a little bit more of a an imaginative approach because uh this is the layout of the existing so yeah so the current Library space is more restricted to the right side of this purple um diagram and currently that only has two windows into this space when you're reading a book you really enjoy some daylighting um so one of the big things we wanted to include was getting that third window that is currently in the stream Lab and include that into the library space so in order to do that we had to do some flip of programming so if we go into the next Slide the stream Lab is now in the bottom right hand corner where it's going to utilize the current Skylight so

106that's going to be providing daylight into this room but now in the library we have all three Windows coming into this space and it includes all the soft seating in the classroom rate adjacent to those windows and it can reach all the way to the bottom side of the library in this case which is the corridor side so it really stretches the daylight in this space versus before when the stream Lab was cutting in it it almost stops the flow of this natural light that can be included so in this plan the top left is now the small office with the adjacent Zen room and a data closet that is to remain and that has a private entrance now rather than um uh separate entrance for the stream Lab the streamlab is now interconnected through

107the library and has its own private entrance without dealing with the ramp so this will be a nice large space for Katonah Elementary which really doesn't have a large room like this so it really feels a need in that building and again this was all worked out with all the teachers and instructors there you can see the three Windows uh the updated story area the stream Lab with a window to the library some glass display shelves so again you can display work and get some sort of what's called what we call accidental inspiration by what's going on as you walk by there was also discussion of uh there are security entrances at Meadow Pond and increase Miller we're not going to talk about them but we did want to briefly talk about the one at

108Katonah Elementary because there's it's a very challenging issue at Katona Elementary because the main entrance is not handicapped accessible but it is indisputably the main entrance in that building so the handicapped entrance at the lower level and in the back will be available and we'll have camera and and door releases but the security entrance will be at the main entrance so we try to come up with a creative and not uh in obtrusive way of uh doing that so as you come in and go up the stairs to the right where there's a little opening to the office there's going to be a small security booth and we think we've come up with a way where we can fit it in without uh troubling the historic feel of the Lobby so this is a rendering

109of that and uh Richard you want to talk a little bit about this oh sure it's um I think it's a subtle approach to this beautiful 1939 WPA building what we've done is we've provided a secure vestibule that can be staffed with security Personnel but also done it in a way that keeps the historic context by just using lots and lots of glass some soft wood tones the approach would be that somebody would come into the weather vestibule um past where your current security Personnel is located and have to check in with this individual the doors would not be activated until such time that the person had their credentials evaluated and then they could be led into the building as Russ said there would be access for this person to monitor the other entrances through

110video and voice connection so this would sort of be your main security hub for Katonah Elementary can I just ask a quick question on that one it seems like it blocks the stairwell to some extent and I assume that there's no five pound issue or anything like that preventing egress from the building yeah you're right it does block half of one side but we still maintain the two three foot doors uh so we're not a limit we're not limiting the exit with uh capacity oh I see yeah yeah because you still appreciate anyway yeah yeah the stairs are overly wide so it still works from an exiting point of view there was no perfect solution here uh but this is we feel the best and it's going to be kind of elegant and rather than

111trying to match something from 1939 we're going the other way and going very contemporary to make it look invisible I'm just proud of our staff for making that rendering which looks like a photo looks like that is a great rendering there are so many conversations about this and this rendering is so useful thank you yeah yeah he's a he's a a college intern who he started this two days ago wow really yeah I think he's gonna get it so the Middle School uh also had a security booth here's here we have an opportunity at the middle school and high school to do them in the ideal way which is to get them out of this student pathway we don't have that opportunity Katonah Elementary or the other elementaries entirely uh so this one changed a

112little bit from the pre-bond concept and Lauren irons is uh we'll talk about it a little bit yes so in this plan you can see the very top left little door is where your current entrance is and once people are vetted through that door they have access to the school so with this Edition that is now in blue is taking the width of one Bay of Windows that you have and people enter enter into the secured vestibule without entering the school and they'll talk to the security guard check in make sure everything's good before being vetted into the building um and here's a view of that you're standing in the drop-off Zone looking back at the addition in the top right you see an existing photo that's a little further up the drop-off Zone um

113but it gets the idea across where you have this Monument of an entry that can blend in with what you currently have and it creates security for you and it familiarizes students that this is part of your building you can come in through here but you can still drop off enter into your current doors but while you're in your school hours people would come into this visitors entry right so all the other doors will be locked they'll be clear signage and uh you know we we thought this was pretty successful because it matches the bay system of that walkway and uh we're going to fix the masonry app to unify the color and replace the school signage and most people will think it's always been there so the Tech Lab uh is also a big

114part of the project the middle school and we had a really nice pre-bond uh concept and then we started talking to teachers and learned that it was all wrong um but that's okay that's why you have a design phase uh but the Tech Lab at the middle school they really need three spaces for grade levels with some common support of tools so uh Lauren again Lauren and I uh worked with them and came up with this approach uh and quickly Lauren Yeah we actually sketched this out with them while we were there um so the top of the plan is where there's going to be a bar program and that's going to be where all the storage is and we have these technology Labs where within those each classroom can share with one another so

115this is where your 3D printers your laser cutters any kind of storage of tools that you have there will be plenty of Cabinetry in here so a lot of that is the a home base for this equipment and smaller tools can be brought out into the classroom space but your larger pieces of equipment like the 3D printers and laser cutters will remain in here there will be Windows to view what's going on in there so it'd still be part of the class but between the three classes we still wanted this opportunity if students wanted to share their work with other classes we have these sliding glass walls that can really make a larger space within the three and there's even one at the bottom of the plan in the Center classroom that can open up

116to the new and improved Outdoor Classroom play space that is part of another project yeah and there's a new entrance on the far right which is that sort of blank card or that goes down to the theater so that's going to have again glass display windows so as you walk by you can see projects that have happened in the Tech Lab more accidental inspiration I think it's going to really animate that that part of the middle school and you'll have a space for each grade level again some of the images uh the one we showed on the left shows the overhead door um how you'll see some of the glass enclosed rooms on the end the folding glass doors on the upper right your rooms aren't that big that's a project at Yale and then

117the lower right is how those glass shelves uh sort of are see-through and they can really show off nice work so um B building is still the pre-bond concept we don't really know of any uh reason to change that but uh one of the meetings Danelle mentioned that's just being set up is with the high school to review B building so we're sort of in the middle of that but just as a review we're talking about opening up classrooms to create informal learning areas I think the high school is now thinking this is probably more in English History area than it is a foreign language because those are more collaborative types of disciplines one of the other changes which ties into your earlier discussion actually is since we're renovating toilet rooms in B building and

118sea building we're going to gut renovating them we're recreating all single user toilets at those two locations it's just a better way that toilet rooms are being done today in the context of the equity and diversity uh world that we're in and these are some of the renderings that show The Outdoor Classroom that uh open interior area um and popping up the roof at this at the corridors to bring in daylight and hopefully get some solar on the roof there as well so at Sea building uh Lauren Meyer and I have been working and so this is the existing sea building you have six science classrooms that are about 860 square feet um an earth science room in New York state is a minimum of a thousand and a regents uh lab is a minimum

119of 1200. so rather than just putting back new case work in these older Labs we looked at some ideas for reconfiguring this area and it's sort of exciting that what we can do is actually create four Regents level labs in that space where there are six undersized Labs so just like the 1995 Bond and the bond that brought you Q building we're going to be building you state compliant Regents level science labs rather than renovating existing smaller rooms and what's also kind of exciting is this sort of Zone that's on the hallway here because it used to be an exterior is really underused so we're going to clean that out and what you end up getting is three good size uh small rooms as well so you go from six Underside science rooms to four

1201200s and three small science rooms and again on the left the toilet rooms are all individual user toilet rooms so we think that's a real improvement from the pre-bond concept and then uh that's a little isometric view of uh the the larger science room and so Lauren Meyer and I have been working on the front and Lauren you want to describe the corridor connection yeah absolutely right now we have a space that's just covered by an open-air canopy uh enclosing it is going to be a tremendous change for the school and how how the school is used from the very front entrance talking about the security entrance first uh next to the main entrance uh it as in the other schools that were already reviewed we've got a security entrance for all visitors so that's

121their point of entry into that security office before they enter the school proper get vetted and then they can enter the school so it's that's the first stop for visitors and as you go down to the the gym there's currently a narrow ramp right now and this proposal uh makes it full width so that's going to be ramped card or rather than a narrow area and again that's sort of an accessibility and Equity thing so everybody has the same pathway and probably more exciting is uh well that's what it looks like today um and that's what it can record so it's really going to transform the front of the high school we're talking about brick peers uh we're we're going to consider painting the roof because we need to change the snow slides and maybe

122move away from the green to a more sophisticated gray black white palette um and uh the you can see the visitors entrance to the right so similar to the middle school once everyone's in everything's locked it's clearly the visitor's entrance uh it's not part of the student pathway and um uh I don't think you can see it but even before your presentation we got a circle in there so I think that ties into your earlier one um and if if you could see this there's actually a wolf in that Circle so you can decide whether you really want that or yeah but we think it's going to be a huge Improvement and really make the building look a lot more sophisticated and updated and that's what the interior Carter would be we want to wrap

123the columns in Brick bring some of the brick to the inside cover the old concrete block walls with porcelain tile and probably do some built-in benches um in there so it's a really nice place to sit and wait and similar to your gallery but sort of an indoor outdoor space and I just want to mention that in our all our renderings you see this nice clear glass we will be using a reflective glass so it's difficult to see in it's just a little hard for us to render that but that's a good security measure we are not going to be using the heavy films that are there now we're going to be just using a reflective laminated glass which is good from a safety point of view um on all of those exteriors and but

124we're very excited and we think it's really coming together we've got a lot of work to do uh one project for the windows and the playground has already been submitted to State Ed uh the next is increase Miller followed by metal Pond kitone Elementary John Jay Middle School John Jay High School so we're going to be submitting about um well these projects two stated up through October and November of this year um and you know as we said we've got a big team and lots of work to do the um unfortunately State Ed has eliminated a process which allowed for quicker reviews so that Review Time Is Now double to Triple uh what we had earlier anticipated because they got rid of this other review system so we are expecting uh still to be under

125construction next year but uh State Ed is still going to be tricky so we'll stay in touch and it's it is what it is and we're all doing the best we can with it I would also caution everybody while we don't we're being very careful to not add scope or if we add scope to take something else away but uh Supply disruption in the construction industry and cost escalation is still out of control so it is going to be a sobering and a tricky job to get all of this scope done for your budget once we know something obviously we share it openly but it's likely that we're going to have to come up with a base bid scopes of work that are a little smaller than what was in the bond so that we

126can safely award and then do add alternates and let the market tell us how much you can afford but that's the that's the most prudent course of action and um there's a that was our presentation thank you this is really exciting it's so great to be able to see these drawings and we thank you for facilitating focus groups throughout the year it's been so rewarding to hear from so many staff members we really thank our staff members administrators staff faculty for taking time outside of their school day on many occasions to meet with you and to share concerns questions and thank you for taking into account their feedback at one of the more recent sessions it was very rewarding to capture some comments which included it's beautiful it's wonderful I love it thank you so

127much for taking into consideration the concerns and suggestions we raised I'm so excited and really I mean we're so excited this is really impressive um thank you for the update regarding the timeline that is sobering regarding the escalation in all costs we know this is going to be tricky to pull off but for this moment just seeing the progress that has been made thank you to your entire team thank you to all of you for for being a dedicated presence throughout the year thank you to Liz for your leadership and for Danelle and your team for organizing and coordinating all of the resources that had to support the focus groups I see Michael Lavoy in the back thank you you've been a dedicated presence of these focus groups too and it's just it's wonderful to

128see this come to fruition happy to open it up for comments questions I I would like to make a quick comment first uh Russ I like the purple tie it's a nice touch tonight I did also want to thank the community members who joined us on the facilities committee uh this has been two years in the making and really very incredible the progress that we've made from conceptualizing what we needed to do uh to the first drawing so the second drawings and see all of the feedback really Incorporated and building excitement about these projects so I do want to thank Ross and his team and everyone that's been involved this has been a really fantastic project and it feels good to see it come this far absolutely I mean our little logos listen imagine build

129we really do the listening and I think it really makes it better I mean every one of every one of the changes has has made the concept better and that's that's what uh that's how it should work so it's it's been fun it's great Marjorie and Liz that you you come to all the meetings uh I can't say the board members that do that very often but it's been really helpful and uh so we're excited and we got a big team going full speed right now great thank you we're in great hands thank you so much we'll let you get on with the rest of your friends it's been a pleasure working with Janelle yeah thank you well we'll transition to we'll get by with Lisa thank you thank you thank you thank you wish

130I have a third Lauren in our office too wonderful thank you so much that was terrific and this brings us to item 7.03 which is an opportunity for discussion not so much a presentation but we did want to um invite a conversation related to board composition I'd like to First invite Liz to share a few words with us and then we can go from there thank you thank you it's it's hard to come after that presentation because it was it was so much of our work for the last two years um but tonight I am submitting my resignation from the role of trustee and the Katona lewisboro Board of Education excuse me um effective at the end of the day on June 20th 2023 as the board knows I have made my decision to run

131for Congress and I believe the most appropriate course is to step back from my service here well engaged in a Congressional Campaign but make no mistake about it I have been inspired by the work we have done together and I will miss serving on the board over the last four years we experienced highs and lows that were unexpected and extraordinary my tenure began with the decision to retire at long last our former mascot it was not without controversy but I am proud of that decision and the thoughtful way we engaged and tried to bring people along there was a time when I imagined that this would be one of the most contentious issues of my time on the board then came covet we always knew that public schools were part of the essential infrastructure of

132this country but this became even more clear through the constant reinvention learning problem solving and pivoting required to keep school going in any form for our community I will never forget the scrappy heroics of our teachers the painstaking labors of our custodians the fortitude of our bus drivers and the tireless work of our administrators counselors and nurses during my time we have put forth for fiscally prudent budgets while maintaining the ability to offer an excellent public education and the flexibility to address the changing needs of our students in this very challenging time we prioritize investments in our facilities and we're able to pass a critical bond with the support of our community that will see one of our buildings transition to geothermal heating and cooling significant investments in our libraries and the elementaries a fully

133renovated science Wing in the high school and a new Greenhouse at the middle school and we were able to expand property tax exemptions to make it easier for those who serve the community including veterans and First Responders to live where they work and for seniors to stay in a place they love I truly valued my time on this board even when it was hard my colleagues are incredibly professional and committed to public education they are people I am now happy to call my friends we haven't always agreed but we've always found ways to work together on behalf of the young people in this District of all of the profound ways in which this experience on the board has affected me this opportunity to engage in thoughtful and civil disagreement has been one of the most

134informative and inspiring thank you all for your dedication and your service and thank you to so many who work so hard to do so much for our community I would like to take this opportunity to remind the community how very important it is to stay present engaged and attentive this is critical there are forces from well outside our district and state intent on Banning books and draining money from public education if this worries you too please consider running for the board or joining one of our board committees that is always looking for more participation it is our duty to safeguard public education for our young people and for those who come after them finally I would like to thank the community for trusting me with this incredibly important job I will miss it thank you

135Liz we really appreciate first and foremost your service to Katona lewisboro school district and your partnership as a trusted respected board colleague we will miss you and we very much are grateful that tonight we at least have the opportunity to come full circle on the bond that was well timed and coordinated although also somewhat serendipitous um and we thank you for the thoughtful manner in which you've made this decision out of an abundance of caution and wanting to ensure no appearance of impropriety and you know we respect that and we really appreciate that thank you very much for your words um I'm happy to pause if anybody wants to say anything as an initial matter I'm also happy to just fill the space by sharing that anticipating that Liz was going to share this update

136with us tonight we did also ask Andrew and our administrative team to do some research to apprise the board and the community of options in the event of a resignation and so we're prepared to have a preliminary conversation um and before we ask Andrew to lead us through that again I'm happy to thought is it an option to refuse a resignation sadly great question there is no role before the Board of Education you'll notice we don't have a resolution on the agenda tonight um it it truly is Liz's prerogative and sadly know that we have no veto power here or something our lawsuit voice of reason and directness and Fearless to say things that some of us were thinking but didn't have the guts to say you did say the school district's lucky to have

137had you and it's going to be the school district's loss but hopefully Congress is gained thank you I I just quickly just like to say news I mean thank you so much I think you and I joined the board at the same time and it was a wonderful a real privilege to get to know you um I think Bill Bill is right and you tackle the tough topics head on and you say things that are on your mind and I think that's really valuable but you're also you've also got a great sense of humor and a great sort of uplifting aura about you that I think you know raises all of us in tough times and I'm gonna miss you terribly and thank you so much for your service thank you we certainly can come

138back to additional comments that I could ask you Andrew to please share some information I think that will help I want to add my thanks thank you literacy of service picked a wonderful four years to be on a board of education so um turning to what the board's options are in a situation like this these these options are very much prescribed in the law I want to thank him and our legal counsel who've helped us to be sure that we know what it is that a board is able to do there are three options uh open to a board in this situation board can choose to do nothing and leave a seat vacant uh following a resignation in which case it would stay vacant until the following election which in our case would be May

139of 2024 and then the uh Pete would become available through an election person who would win that seat would then remain for the remainder of that term and even that there would be other trustees seats open at that time let's say there are three seats open in the May 24 election with this seat included uh whichever candidate but the third fewest third I would say around the third highest number of votes you know what I mean yeah would fill the seat that had the shortest term they'd have to run again and then and then would need to run that person if they so choose would run again so that's that's the option if the board chooses to do nothing and leaves the seat bacon the next option open to the board is to a point

140and a board can simply appoint a person a board could deliberate on how they might identify a person and then a board is free to appoint a person to the position with similar parameters that appointment would then exist through May of 2024 and then again at that time there would be to be an election alongside the regular election again fill the remainder of the term then the third option is to run an election now if that were the option it would have to happen within 90 days from the date of the resignation and in that case if it's a special election solely for this particular seat then the person fills the remainder of the term it's just two years those are essentially the three the outline of the three options trustees have questions about particular

141details perhaps as you discussed which of those options and the and the discussion about um how to proceed totally appropriate to have that discussion here in open public if and when it gets to a point if there's a point at which it gets to a discussion about names totally appropriate for that discussion to move into executive session if that if that becomes a discussion early especially in love before we begin yeah just one clarifying question can you expand a little bit on the under what I'm calling option uh one where there would be a vacant season for May 2024 how we deal with things like quorums and majorities great great question so then it's a it's a six-member board that's seated that technically was still a seven-member board but the Quorum is still formed in

142that situation so we'd still need four trustees present open a meeting you'd still need four affirmative votes as any resolution and when um this is an interesting point for the public perhaps but when a trustee is absent from a meeting potentially a no vote because you do have to have four affirmative votes people who are present to pass so it is true that with with a six-man aboard you a possibility of a three three split on a vote in which case a resolution doesn't pass um it would require four if there were six people present it would require fours the past any Arizona can I just ask another question so with both women and election no matter what the person there is a person who stays in the Cadence like we wouldn't just switch the

143three-person term year it has to okay so no matter what that person finishes the word tilt money five 25 or should be a three-person election okay okay got it right the term the term that Liz has been filling it'll continue to run that term I have 25. right could you uh talk us through cost of a special election because I imagine that doesn't come without cost yeah yeah we call it a special election it's actually exactly the same as a regular election we still have to do all of the same it still has all the same rules around it nominating petitions etc for any candidates that might be interested left to get the same voting machines we still have to have the same folks who staff the election sites and a regular election costs the

144district about thirty thousand dollars thereabouts and it does it does like I said it does have to be completed within a 90-day by contrast my understanding of leaving the seat vacant or appointing is that there is no time frame required that a board could leave the seat vacant for a period of time and then subsequently decide you know what this isn't working the six of us let that a seventh or that sort of thing so there's no no time limitation in the same way that there is for the special election right the only thing you would lose then is you wouldn't be able to do a special election you could leave at six and if we passed the 90 days and then decide that we want a seventh person who would appoint somebody you could

145still you'd still the board would still have the option to do that if it if it chose to at that point the advantage of appointing somebody sooner rather than later would be that for the reorg meeting would be everybody the new board would be there together all getting the same information and just making all the decisions at the same time so I guess maybe a way to start the conversation if we want to enter into some discussion unless are there clarifying questions still because we should probably continue to get those out if not would be to ask whether on balance the board is inclined to move towards maintaining seven trustees you know does that feel important to the board to be composed of seven trustees or is there a feeling somebody would want to express

146around the desire for whatever reason to leave the seat vacant and remain aboard of fixed trustees that might be the first place to start because the decision to maintain a composition of seven trustees would then necessarily lead us towards either an election or an appointment we could rule out leave the seat vacant um for the time being somebody want to speak to that we were a board of seven and there's a good reason for us to be a board of seven and I appreciate Andrew's comments and that's why I asked about the Quorum and what constitutes a sort of affirmative vote um I for my position would be that we should try to have seven people on the board I think that's that's the way the board is designed taking we ought to try to

147have seven people as quickly as possible after these resigns yeah thank you and it is true that all boards in our region are either composed of five seven or nine members there is no provision for six months our board used to be five people and then was expanded to seven back in the early or 2000s um so I you know I I I would Echo the sentiments that optimally we would be a seven-person board from my perspective but happy to hear other perspectives on that if somebody wants to speak to the opposite position that you know be helpful to do that now I think I'm I'm inclined to stay seven I am so I think it's helpful to have an odd number of folks as well as just the fact that we need four for

148a quorum and there are times when people have conflicts and can't be at a meeting or people are sick or other things so I think having is important for all those practical reasons if someone else wanted to resign they could go to five and become composition get changed before like when when you went from five to seven so that predates all of us except well I think actually it does predate all of us and I think it was a conversation around enrollment and representation of the district as it was changing ebbing flowing shall I say not a bank at that time um and you know I surmised there were other political motivations but again you know before it didn't it didn't go back to the minute yeah technically the board itself decided that and then

149it's not that simple it actually requires us to go out for a referendum yeah the community the community voted to go from five to seven it was discussed in a similar Manner and then you know over a period of time and then ultimately it was the community that voted to increase right well and I would just uh Echo the sentiments of everyone else with the facilities committee we found the bigger the committee the more the ideas and the better the end product so I think that it is very useful to have many people on the board in speaking with legal counsel I also um have that opinion to share which is that seven-person boards are optimal um as compared to the five or the nine in our attorneys experience so um from that perspective as

150a business judgment you know he's in a position to say he supports the seven-person Board model that's helpful so okay I'm hearing them consensus that the board wishes to remain at seven composed of seven trustees and then that leads us to the next level of decision making we're hearing a little bit about the costs and Logistics associated with a special election but we can also think together about the reasons we might be inclined to go to an election perhaps taking costs out of it and the reasons we might be inclined to go to appointment and if anybody would like to begin that conversation that would be great I guess I would be inclined to think about it this way um I think it would be prudent to think together which we can't do here about

151what women would look like and who that could be and then given however that lands I think we could come back if we felt like we we couldn't really agree on an appropriate candidate or we thought of some candidates and they weren't interested or whatever then we could come back and reconsider whether that would necessitate a special election that's I think what I would that's what I would how I would think about it just to make sure I understand you're suggesting that one way to proceed would be to have a conversation related to potential community members or appointment and if that looked complicated or not possible to then sort of your second choice would be to then look at the more complex option of running the election okay I think uh it's hard to take

152the cost out of that um that equation but I think three months also puts us in the end of August which might add more complexity around a special election I think the special election did I misunderstand it has to be within 90 days so that would be the outer limit of when it could be held but please tell me if I'm getting that writers yeah it wouldn't yeah it wouldn't happen it would certainly be more time consuming and labor-intensive absolutely but objective would be to get it done no later than the 90 days but it could be done sooner transition period of time up front that has to pass because you have to allow time nominations Etc and there's just the logistics of getting the equipment and getting involved the staff prepared Etc but then

153so there's some numbers it wouldn't be able to happen immediately and I can share that in the region there have been other resignations in recent memory and to the extent that we've researched all of them we're not aware of any school board that has opted to go the route of the special election and primarily from what we're able to determine it does come down to cost that it's hard to justify the costs associated with running the election when that's money that could be going toward the education of students if there is another option that's tenable just in terms of decision making at other districts but again those of you who've had other conversations around you know what's happening in the region if I'm characterizing that inaccurately please correct it I I'll just play Devil's advocates

154for the moment I actually completely agree with Junior's perspective but there's an argument to be made that an election is more of a democratic process um and if I felt like we had a large body of individuals who were interested in the seat I mean we had a pretty much an uncontested election this time there weren't a whole lot of people knocking down the door to get their names on the ballot um I think that I would try to make that argument that well you know what we should we should take the the financial hit and we should go the Democratic route but we sort of already talking myself out of that and I I do really feel uh that we ought to consider who we might appoint from the community can we go down

155that path so if we have a discussion about and we just and we then have conversation with a Community member and ask if they're interested how do we then present that how do we present that to the community what's the process was saying and and kind of addressing some of the things Catherine were saying I think I think there is a strong argument to be made into for us to consider and think about an election and what that might be I the cost is a consideration 100 the cost the labor the time um and given that we had an election quite recently um it's not like we're very far out but we have seen kind of the recent pool of candidates so that does lead me personally in the direction of appointment and the questions

156of how we do it however personally I'm having just a little bit of like I feel very committed to transparency and to democratic process and an election is a very clear way to achieve that right you sort of put out a call it's open to everybody people put their hats in and then the community votes whereas an appointment process I think we could develop we could be very transparent about that I think that would be important um but an election just makes that a lot cleaner and so like I'm kind of holding that up as you know the situation has changed we were assuming you were with us for a longer time and I'm sad that you're leaving um and perhaps that that means more people would be interested in running however we did there's

157a cost and we just did that and only two candidates submitted their um you know packets and and had it been the previous election year where there were so many people interested I think it without my necess to take a different process but given how recent I'm kind of leaning towards I think appointment is The Prudent and financially responsible thing to do that also kind of gets to where people in the community are um and then maybe people want to run they get excited again for next May because there's always an election per year it's not that long and there will be three seats even though and there'll be three seats available because somebody will be that person will then who's appointed will then have to run again if they're interested in continuing so it's

158not it's not a forever appointment it's a it's a remainder of term appointment you could even look at it as postponing an election there has to be an election in May right so the school chooses yeah that's helpful and I do yeah sorry and I would be happy to go back to also Catherine's question about what what would a transparent appointment process look like so that people feel that we're being open about it and it's not like a secret background deal that we have somebody picked out that would be nice to clarifying question yeah so if we appoint someone what happens next May two people are three people it's two two full terms and one one is for the one year so so it's an election for two three-year terms and one one year apparently

159yes that has happened in the region very recently oh okay so I guess that makes me I'm gonna double down on an appointment so I was thinking that the appointment would be to fulfill resistance okay yeah I think for one year to spend thirty thousand dollars it's crazy it's kind of less than a year less than a year by the time yeah okay sorry election that term would then be fulfilled Liz's term right so that would be yes but we're just basically postponing the election of the the person who's filling was a seat until next May by appointing someone now I want to be clear that was my choice of a phrase that's a way to look at it but it's you know one can choose to have an election now or there has to

160be an election right yeah but I didn't understand until you use that okay language now I get it um to come back to Catherine's question there's very little in terms of requirement board simply adopts a resolution for an appointment then has to vote on that resolution that could happen soon as tonight or at any future meeting it doesn't there's no more requirement than that but to Alana's question as to what's the most transparent way to do it that's entirely up to the board how you arrive at there's no um him correct me if I'm wrong there's no guidance from the state on that there's no there's nothing in the law about that the law simply says the board's prerogative to select a person at a point that person by arrest and we can't Bandy names

161about in public session no but it's also permitted to discuss an executive session okay and it's permitted to develop a process if the board wishes to develop a process around you know announcing the vacancy um I think we can't really get to names until we in an executive session make some decisions and then contact that person and see if they're interested otherwise they're sort of or people people we're volunteering people you know yeah another element of the process discussion is whether you know this is particularly awkward timing because this is our last meeting of this board and we are going to have a reorg meeting where I think it it is optimal to have seven trustees in place for the reorg meeting if that weren't the case and um you know there wasn't time sensitivity

162we could to ilana's point develop a process whereby community members could be asked to I mean let us know that sort of thing so it's it's really up to the board in terms of how to how to move forward with the appointment there's tremendous um is that possible though like and being as transparent as possible and and you know democracy like do you put that out there and say is anybody like it's just such an odd you're not having an election but you're asking people if they want to come forward is that a possibility it is a possibility and we would have to select yes I know I know and then that doesn't seem to people I mean imagine we're gonna have dozens of people I mean I wish I hope we have dozens of

163I mean you know that's that's ideal we want lots of people who want to serve in the community right like there's something about this that hopefully creates an opportunity that even if you don't get appointed but you want to do it guess what there's an election in May again and then the following May and the following may like it it's great if people want to serve and there's opportunities to serve in the in the inter in the in between on many committees and right like there's we want a rich pool of people that want to serve whether they are on the board we have one seat available on the board that will come up right like this short of it I mean I think if we were to have a process and we're going to

164delay it or or even do it in this time period so there's a technical question let's say we decide we want to appoint do we have to be in public meeting to do that appointment would we call a special meeting yes okay yes to both questions if you want to have somebody for the reorg it has to be report order yeah and I actually feel like that's fairly important because decisions are made at the reorg that affect you know committee assignments and protocols and how we're going to handle things and that person should have a vote in those meetings and also to be part of like performing the new board and building relationships among one another I think that is important at the same time I would also I would also add that if like

165if we were to I mean this sounds like this needs to happen in the next 15 days right a decision in order to be in time for the reorg meeting um because your term ends on the 30th I know but are you stepping on that's a meeting you guys leave the 30th midnight and June 30th okay yeah Kim do you want to tell us the answer I'm sorry so Catherine and Bill's term expires June 30th 2023 July 1st Bill swartfeger and Lorraine Gallagher who were recently elected serve as board trustee it's at the reorg meeting when everybody is kind of given their oath and they are officially sitting at the board table at the reorg so everybody's this current board whose term is expiring ends June 30th new trustees July 1st thank you okay so

166if anything just if we if we were to appoint before the July 6 the reorg meeting which it sounds like is is desirable and we wanted to I mean we would be making a decision there I think one way that could be more transparent would be to have like a CL a rubric by which we are making a decision that would be more public not you know like it's important to us to have a diversity of Geographic areas represented or a diversity of people on the board who have different I I don't know like you know things like that that would just give us a much more objective thing that might help that would add value to the board in its current composition that are not about a personal characteristic but a little objective potentially

167but might be in line with values that the board might want to uphold or to add the value of diversity of opinions and experiences to enhance the board so that that might be something we could do it doesn't have to be so complex I mean you have to be very careful about that you don't want to point somebody because you think you know what they believe or what they like or what they don't like you should appoint somebody because you think to be capable do a good job show up and be reasonable um if you start getting into much selection like that that actually becomes to me becomes less democratic uh whoever's picked you know they'll have to run pretty soon for another elections if the community disagrees they'll have ample opportunity to to change

168our minds but I I think that it it might not be a random process but I think we have to be limited in how like we're looking for a man a woman you know I think you gotta be very you know very careful about that you have to be as objective that this is somebody who is willing to serve and you think will do a good job would probably be the criteria I would use and without mentioning any names there's an elephant in the room it seems to me and there probably is somebody that we could all think of that is interested and eligible that we could all think about and obviously I'm not going to say who I think that is but I think that you know we're we're talking about eventualities and opportunities

169and you know do we need to put together a process and I'm not sure we really need to explore that Avenue all that much because I think that we all would agree that there might be some candidate in the community that could be eligible and interested sounds like it's I'm hearing that point we're spending our time talking about the um implementation of the opportunity to a point that's really what I'm hearing and I think for tonight that's probably about as far as we can go yeah and um you know to pick off pick up where I think we've just left off you know perhaps it would be most appropriate to adjourn into executive session to continue that conversation um if that's the direction that the board is inclined to go which is to say discuss

170next steps with respect to an opportunity to a point yeah about that well we resume back to public session to finish the public meeting that's up to the board it'll be up to the board after we have a conversation um to finish the meeting and just go in at the end I'm not suggesting the adjourn at this moment um pardon me I I meant I think we can bring this conversation this agenda item to closure for now and proceed with the rest of the business of the meeting and then I'll make a motion at the end and you guys can tell me if it's gonna we might let you down reminds me down I'm going to make a motion that we adjourn to Executive session um was there anything else anybody wanted to add to

171this discussion publicly before we close out the discussion for the moment okay thank you for doing that research again Liz thank you for your service and for so thoughtfully surprising us of your decision-making process we really appreciate that all of it and that does bring us to 8.01 which is an opportunity for public comment thank you to the community for staying with us thank you for joining us and it's my pleasure to invite Lawrenceburg Marjorie just as we're going into our first public session past um re-passing our public comment policy and wondering if we can try try out and experiment with keeping to our three-minute Rule and maybe we can get feedback on how that goes and we can improve our practice but just since we passed the policy it'd be nice to kind of

172abide by us sure thanks for the reminder so Kim can you refresh my memory you have a timer and it's an audio audio timer that my cell phone will go well and um you know thank you for introducing yourself and um as I think community members are aware but it does bear reminder that we won't be engaging in back and forth or dialogue we will be listening and we can always take up commentary at a future meeting and we appreciate your patience and are looking forward to hearing your remarks thank you thank you what is the policy we have a board meeting related to public comment and the aspect of the policy that is I think referenced is with respect to we request that you limit your remarks to three minutes please and in the

173past we have had a harder time abiding by that for a variety of reasons and we are rededicating ourselves to the three minute three minute requirement thank you okay hi I'm Lawrenceburg um parents a couple of kids in the district um I actually just wanted to speak because the eogc is on the agenda tonight and I am a member of the committee for at least two years now I think um and I thought it was just worth having another voice letting you guys know how important the work has been in my opinion and how valuable it is I wanted to say thanks to the board for making a serious commitment to the concept and it's been it's really for me was very reassuring to know that this is being taken seriously at all levels of

174the district including the board and then that was my first point was just to say thank you for being that that committed to the idea and continuing the commitment going forward I was afraid when we started they would just say okay we have a committee now we're done and you didn't do that so I'm happy that's happening I wanted to say that I I can't imagine the feeling of not being safe or welcomed in a school as a student I try I definitely heard stories I've heard a lot of stories in and outside the committee of students who say I can't get on a bus because someone's wearing the wrong color of students who can't get into a building of all sorts of issues I'm not going to give a lot of examples but I

175know they're there and I know they're coming from other students they're coming from staff whether they're conscious or unconscious and a whole variety of questions of diversity that certainly this the economy's doing a great job I think of sort of touching out all the places when we first started when we had the Consultants coming in to help us get started we talked about all the different ways that you could be excluded and I think we're trying to cover them all um but I've um one of the things I also remember working on this last year was this book was mentioned I think the person you mean to be um let's say it it brought to mind one of the things I pulled from that book was this idea of having a growth brain a growth

176mindset excuse me that just means always always stopping and saying am I making assumptions or I have a bias here what is my opportunity to grow in this moment when I'm being confronted I think all of us the members of the committee the members of the staff the board really have a responsibility to take back to heart and be the models in the community because I'm on the community engagement committee subcommittee so I'm looking for ways to extend this into the community and let this community know that we're here as a as a full community of stakeholders to work through this work I grew up in a town in the suburbs of New York City where my school was one of four schools in the community was the only one with people of color in

177it and the kids across the street and graduate school were bragging that they didn't have black kids in their school my parents would not have bought the house that I was living I grew up in because the people in this the people who came before them to get the house were told they told my parents after rejecting their first parents that we didn't want to do that to the community because the other people who came first were the wrong kind of people they didn't realize what they were getting bam but I'm glad to see now moving to a place like Katana which has a wow that's three minutes yeah all right so anyway the point is thank you for your work thank you for making a commitment to that and um I wanted to touch

178on the concept of restorative justice and how happy I understood that that's happening in schools I wanted to mention how much we had early meeting with Candace who did a great job of helping us get started this year and she was a really welcome addition to the to the work and I wanted to mention I have three minutes same time thank you thank you so much thank you thank you Daniel daychek please I wasn't planning on speaking so forgive me it's a three-minute starting I think once you say your name okay I'm sorry I do follow rules I promise I do follow rules so hello I just wanted to speak about the board um composition if you don't mind just a suggestion about perhaps asking the people in the community who are interested to submit

179it and then doing an interview process and no other districts recently have done this and I just would like to share why it's a um I think it's a valid concern I feel that you have two new people who had very high votes in this community and I think the community sent the message in those votes um I think that we need to consider I hear that you want to do it quickly it feels a little bit uncomfortable to do it without the two people who would be a part of the board that people would be working with if that makes sense I also feel strongly that you say that you want it to feel very transparent and I can tell you as somebody sitting here that it won't feel that way it feels like

180it's a quick attempt to make an appointment before a new board and I needed to say that publicly and I don't I think there'll be lots of people feeling that and I think there's an opportunity here to build trust and rushing to do this with this board and not including the two people the community made very clear we want here could break trust with your community and I ask you to consider do you want to start with a new board without trust of the thousands of Voters that came out that's all I ask you to consider thank you anybody else waiting to speak whether nobody else is waiting to speak I'm going to close the public comment okay thank you and this brings us to the consent agenda um I'm not aware of anything being

181pulled out for separate voting anybody if not would somebody like to move the consent agenda moved by Rory seconded by Liz thank you is there any discussion or commentary related to the consent agenda items clarifying questions okay if not then we can vote all in favor please say aye 7-0 thank you and that brings us to an opportunity for a donation tonight 14.01 it's my pleasure to move this resolution or a gift in the amount of 3750 from the metal Pond PTO four books um thank you for this generous generous donation could I have a second please thank you Rory all in favor please say aye aye you gotta scroll up oh I'm so sorry my font is very big did not see the rest pardon me thank you for telling me that did we

182already vote did I just did we just vote great okay so and you just in addition in addition very exciting from the metal Pond PTO in the amount of two thousand dollars new entry mats from the metal Pond PTO in the amount of a thousand dollars for supplies for a lost and found cabinet that's definitely very unnecessary in elementary schools I can tell you that and from middle Pond Elementary in the amount of six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars supplies for calm Corners in classrooms wow these are incredibly generous thoughtful donations thank you to the metal Pond PTO if there's no further discussion then we can vote all in favor please say aye um seven zero okay great thank you and this brings us to 15.01 or any or dialogue discussion new business I'd

183like to just give my last benediction this is the end of my last uh meeting I've been doing this for 10 years so you have to endure a little bit more from me um I wanted to say I think this is like the 170th meeting I might I'm not sure if you count the one I was late to uh would you count that or not but I just want to make very clear as I leave the board then I think the school district is in very good hands and is doing very well whether you slice it by academics finances the learning commitment we've seen the equity work the sustainability work there's research there's Athletics Music Theater art academic competitions there's gonna be new new buildings I've said it before I think everybody can find their

184Niche and their passion here and then speaking of passion I also want to as I the door closes behind me I want to make very clear that I it has been an honor to play a small role in this for the past nine years seeing the the passion the commitment of the people around this table and the teachers and the staff and everybody is just inspiring I I didn't work in a public school um and it's just been eye-opening that the people do so uh everybody's doing a fantastic job and don't let anybody tell you otherwise thank you any other items yes Ilana I just wanted I wasn't at the last meeting so I just wanted to um thank Bill and Catherine in particular um it was really wonderful working with you as I shared

185with Bill I wasn't sure what it was going to be like to work with you watching you from the audience but I really have um I found you to be incredibly open and considering all sides and really not coming with pre-judgments and I I've learned a lot from that and Catherine I've really appreciated how you share so truthfully um what's true for you what's true based on your extensive experience in the district um and in a way that is that lands so well and this it is so easy to take in yet is so strong so thank you and Liz um I have been blown away by how you ushered the facilities um committee and the bond through uh it was a real feat and you did it incredible incredibly well and with wonderful Community

186input working with everybody and in partnership with our district and you will also be missed on the board it feels cut short but I'm excited for your future endeavors you Ilana and while we are saying our goodbyes we would be remiss we didn't also say thank you so much Danelle Mary for your service to Katonah Lewis bro this is also our last opportunity to sit at the board table with the two of you and we have all learned so much from both of you and have grown so much from your leadership and your willingness to show patience in educating us and bringing us along on a variety of topics you've both moved to the district district forward in innumerable ways and through a very challenging most challenging period of time as has been said previously

187but it Bears repeating and we wish you all the very best in your next chapters but you will both be dearly missed and we thank you and um and we're sad that this is our last meeting together but happy for you about your future endeavors thank you it's truly been an honor and I thank you all thank you yeah I have I have a topic that I just wanted to bring to the board for consideration um and it's something that I have mentioned before around the blurring of lines between our athletic department and third-party organizations such as the booster organization um and some others some of the youth organizations there was an event held on Monday that was built as a John Jay Awards event during which section 1 athletes were provided with their section

188one Awards but it was hosted by the booster club and it wasn't clear whether that was a booster's event or whether it was a John Jay event um and I would really like the board's input as to whether people feel like there are blurred lines between what is our athletic department and therefore a district event versus what's not I know in this case that that students who are receiving the rewards were obliged to pay to attend the event which just feels a little awkward to me and so I just wanted to propose that to the board and see what folks perspective on that is I actually attended the event and it was a lovely event but um it was surprising to me going with my son and I thought it was a John Jay event

189but it was a booster club event but yet you know our athletic director was announcing athletes and our principal was at the front table it just seems a little blurred we were paying for it and yet they were there were a section it was a section an all section recipients of our athletes at John Jay High School that we were paying to celebrate them so I just I think we do have to figure out what I think we have to figure out what's a John Jay High School event versus a booster event I think I I was at several of the booster meetings talking about that event I know that it's been a tradition in the district that the boosters organized that and in Prior years there was no charge but it became a budget

190issue for the boosters to to do that and so I think perhaps it's an opportunity to get feedback I have heard from a few people about I know even in the conversations at boosters it was you know it would be nice for it to not be something that the kids had to pay for but there simply wasn't funding for it so I think maybe thinking about doing it as more of a reception um you know similar to like the student awards reception or where there isn't food and it's not a dinner but I think we would want to know if that would feel disappointing to people to not have it be some kind of dinner um you know to be just an award ceremony in which case you wouldn't have to worry about the cost

191you could do it at the school you could do it outside and the lawn the way we do the senior Awards or in the uksd event but it would be a klsd event but historically in historically it has always been boosters organized that dinner and again this was just the first year I believe that there was a charge for it and that was just a monetary restriction yeah because I just I believe it was a fundraiser yeah so I think they were trying to achieve economies of scale by having it where they already were renting the facility they were already there and I think I think there was no intent for it to not feel like a special evening for the students I think it just was volunteers trying to do their best to coordinate

192an event for the students to raise money on behalf of Athletics for the district and I think those things and it was like it was a lovely evening I just think that there were a few athletes that weren't there and I'm just concerned that it was not accessible because it was it was an expensive evening and it was I mean it was 150 for a parent and a student and there were a few athletes that weren't there and my concern as a board member is was it accessible or was it too expensive for that family to celebrate their student athlete and we want to make sure that all of our student athletes that are receiving that award are able to participate in that celebration is it is it is it a is it a booster's

193award or is it a no no section award the boosters does pay there's a there's a where the district actually pays so all section gets a plaque from section one the district actually created from New York state from section one from nysifa um the district does create um an all section honorable mention so nicifa if you're honorable mentional section they just give you like a piece of paper so Christian feels like if you're gonna award that so he he made like designed one that looks very similar to the all section award but it says all section honorable mentioned those are actually paid for by the district because it's something Christian feels is important to recognize that honorable mention in the same way that all section is is recognized but I think the dinner itself again

194has been organized by boosters because it's a it's just how it's been done for it doesn't work it definitely blurs the lines now I'm here in it is a New York state award the district that came to create its own version of the award so that feels very much like a district event and yet it's not a district event although the athletic director is I mean it just feels very very blurred to me and that's my concern is well it's a district event what isn't a district event I think that I mean I just I agree I think we also have to cover like pasta night right there's or something like that in our elementary schools that's a fundraiser for our ptos those are at the school I think it's those are at the school

195we're raising money there's staff there that the district helps to facilitate being there and I'm just saying I don't think this is the only place where we have that Dynamic there's other events that that ptos do that are off-site agreed and that's so I think what happened is this was similar to an offside event so we have offside events you know we've attended them you know like uh something we went to for Katona like you know where you go to a tent and there's and there's tent and there's music and I think um so that's an evening event for adults only right which is this is combined no no so I'm saying this was combining sort of an adult-only event where alcohol was served and then a youth event and I think that's you know

196part of where from a district perspective having an event where there's alcohol that was involved you know that during the day and that carries into maybe the evening is is something we should think about absolutely can I ask a couple questions I'm sorry it's a little bit of foreign language to me still um just some clarifying questions I know that I met the boosters but I'm not so familiar with kind of what boosters is what all section is like just get some clarification of terms would help me to understand a little bit more and I think to help to pull out this a little bit more like pull it apart so the the all section those are awards that are governed by the New York State athletics Association for schools we're in section one when

197I mentioned earlier that our girls across team won the section that's the section created by the state so all of those things are part of the public school system boosters or a group similar to our ptos that are exist in order to support the schools we work in close relationship with they do do fundraising that they are kind of receive donation from Meadow Pond PTO tonight um and we do separately have a fundraising policy uh that our policy committee actually worked on a few years ago this was one of the issues that we spoke about in developing that policy quite a bit and there is some specific language in there that carves out because in general we want school not just in general we want schools to be students in schools to be free from

198the pressure to be involved in fundraising and still we recognize and we are appreciative of the fundraising that our support groups do and the ways in which that's able to support our schools so there's some demarcation in the policy about what uh etos and boosters are allowed to do versus other non-related groups which one's allowed to do anything and and um boosters I'm assuming specifically for sports Athletics I think so what fields are the athletic equipment Fields spaces maybe coach I don't know and like like um you know celebrating our senior athletes like having flowers at the field for our senior athletes and like all the things yeah and and ptos we don't have ptas anymore but ptos are sort of govern organizations like there's some governance rules around them do boosters also have some

199sort of structure that like I know we switch from ptas to ptos to have a little more autonomy right in the particularly in fundraising I think actually um is there any kind of similar structure within which the boosters operate ptos have their own bylaws yeah I imagine the boosters have their own bylaws also yes Treasurer they file a 990 as a non-profit entity nonprofit but they're non-profit entities correct speaking about the fundraising policy I mean the intent of the policy is that a student shouldn't feel they shouldn't be used for fundraising they shouldn't be sent home to get names and numbers and emails from families and friends they're not supposed to be uh uh expected to buy lots of shirts and jackets and equipment and they're not supposed to have to pay 150 to get

200their award so however that unfolded in the end we can't have a situation where someone is all section in order to get their reward they have to pay a lot of money that's that that's kind of what I do I think it's important that we keep this in the realm of questions because I don't I don't want to make assumptions about what is or what isn't happening it's I suspect that our students are able to receive their Awards in other ways and and May in fact I don't know enough I would need to look into a little bit more um but know if our students actually received the award somewhere else I have the option to review there I'm I'm sorry I think what I want to suggest is there are some good slides available

201on West Chester Putnam County School Board association's website remember I mentioned this Ed law seminar it was a two-part seminar and one of the seminars was specifically related to the role in relationship of boards of education and ETO and booster clubs and there's just some very helpful information about fundraising Basics and permissible fundraising and I think if we're going to have any conversation sort of at the board level we might want to perhaps even invite our attorney to help us navigate these slides and to give us a more personal um education this was you know for a large audience of board members from many school districts and it was with a bunch of different attorneys and then you know I think it would be a question for Andrew to discuss with Christian McCarthy what the

202current event is and whether there is you know opportunity to do this differently whether it should be done differently and to them Circle back yeah I mean really I'll just go back to my original ask which is I feel like we have Blurred Lines and I would like to ask the board if the board feels the same way and if there's interest in coming up with options to try to address that that's that's all I'm looking for is to figure out is there are the Lines Blurred and can we find a mechanism by which we can clarify that sounds like we need more information I think it's a good situation and yeah I I've never you know given thought to this dinner in the past this is the first time I have visibility into the

203dinner um I don't know how other schools honor their section one athletes where this honorable mention distinction so you know I appreciate knowing that we've done it and that historically the boosters have celebrated the students in this manner and I do understand the concern around um the confusion for students and families as to whether it's sort of you've got to pay an entry fee to get this award is it you know when in fact it's an award that the student has earned by Dent of participating in a section one so I think it's very helpful to hear about the history why um there was a charge when maybe previously there hadn't been an admission charge and but beyond that I don't I don't have a feeling um so I'm not in a position to I

204don't know if I'm using this event only as an example and I think I I tried to be here at the beginning to say that this is not the first time that I've felt that there are blurred lines and it's not limited to just the boosters um so that's sort of the premise on which I'm raising this is really I feel like lines are blurred and continually blurred and maybe intentionally occurred and I'd like to draw attention to that and and explore whether that actually is the case or not and then if we feel like it's the case as a board see if there are some options to try to address it I I guess if you're trying to take a poll I don't really see it though I think it's in the same way

205that pto's organize uh field trips and present presentations that come into school and they use their money and kids during the schools people don't even often know that the PTO is the person that's paying for an assembly that they're attending but the PTO is raising the money and paying for an assembly or an outside entity to come in and do some kind of presentation for the kids I mean there's I think if you want to talk about blurred there's absolutely no people may not have any idea that the PTO has paid for that I don't know if that applies in this situation I'm not hearing that as the same just kind of like from an outside perspective of like I think what I'm hearing that sounds like might be the confusing part of this is

206that this was not something on school grounds during school time but it was something that was honoring students or something that is recognized by the state through the public education system that happened with some things around it I'm not without assigning blame or intention or anything like that but there was something that might have not been perhaps in line with some of our policies um I mean I don't I don't somebody mentioned alcohol and students like that I don't think that is aligned with any of our policies around drug use or alcohol permittling on campus or in any extra or co-curricular activities that students can be find and removed from things for being with that so if that's an activity that's happened not that it was intentional but like that's that's not what Our intention

207our policies are so I I think you know like this and this is I think that going back Tori's question I with assuming of course good intent that we want to celebrate our athletes that we have this generous club that raises funds and supports all of this and is this an incident where it may not have been organized in the best way and might be potentially in violation of some of our policies and I I'm hearing another question of my does that happen outside that's just what I just want to kind of reflect what I'm hearing um yeah and I guess I'm saying like I think we can say that this event has has some concerns but I don't see that as like a GL where the boosters are blurred with School in other way

208like they're part of lots of other things that happen at the school but I don't think that I guess my example about the PTO is saying like I think the fact that the boosters are at the concession stand selling food that they're at J Fest grilling for our students that they're at uh you know the end of year celebration our pep rallies they're very involved in those because they're funding a lot of it I don't know I guess I don't is that with the blurring that you're concerned about for boosters no no I I believe strongly that the booster Zoo an awful lot of good work and that they raise funds and it's used appropriately and there's no question in my mind that that's the case concerns me is that it's not always clear that

209an event is a John Jay klsd event should abide by certain rules and when it's not and I don't think that's as I said limited to the boosters but but it's a there's a blurred line sometimes between third-party organizations and klsd I I think that I mean what I'm hearing is that it just really wasn't clear to parents even parents who are on the board who put the event on and so combined with the high price tag and and the alcohol I think that's where the concern arises and I'm I was on the um committee to develop the the new um branding and the wolves and everything and I've often wondered if um we should be more protective of our you know trademarks and things like that because you know you don't want to um

210have a situation where people believe in association exists that doesn't because it could reflect badly on the district and so a lot of this is simply about protecting the district from you know um the perception that some things are going on that that shouldn't be and I think that it should have been very clear that it was a booster event like the example you used Julia when we went to uh the PTO event we knew we were going to a PTO event it was very clear and I think that that's part of a solution here is is just really clarifying who is in charge of the event and who is hosting it and I think that's protective of the district as well do we have four then that are willing to but what are we

211asking do we want to just look into this event no but whether there is a blurring of the lines between the school district and third party organization and if that what presents risk to the district well I think there is some exposure there I think it would have to be a case-by-case situation you know helpful information that should be clarified sorry I don't need to talk over you go ahead bill I was just saying that you know I think it has to be handled on a case-by-case example example if a pattern presents itself in a pattern presents itself but my concern right now is just hearing about this event it's it's a narrow you know what really happened and what could we do going forward to do it differently I mean that's really where it

212is if if if there's other examples if there's other things that come up and absolutely those should be looked in the same way yeah I would agree with that this sounds like you know an event where there's opportunity to clarify rules responsibilities I do think the slides are helpful that I'm referencing and we can all become better educated and we can all strive to you know improve to make sure that families have appropriate expectations and lines are clearer and think about the right ways available to us to celebrate various accomplishments so that I I I appreciate you bringing up the dinner but then yeah beyond that I would just do it feels to me like something that I can't I can't go beyond that without knowing what it is that we're talking about um so

213I don't know if you have in mind the appropriate conversation that you would have um at some point well what I'm what I'm hearing initially is I and I appreciate around the table when Paul trustees say let's assume good intent there are organizations that tremendous amount of volunteer work on behalf of the schools absolutely most part these are our parents of our students and you know I I certainly trust that what's wanted is what's best for for all and what I'm hearing is uh there's certainly lots that I don't know and I'm trusting that that's true for us around the table some know more than others some were obviously present in an event I was not present at this event but I think I can certainly look into providing some clarification and ask some questions

214and come back Nation by the board with some information about perhaps how the event was advertised what it was called how that presented to parents who whether it was presented in a way that created confusion or not um and learn more about that question about the nature of whether students really had to be at this event in order to receive their Awards or not or trying to learn some more about that um all within that context of assuming uh best of intent and trying to provide further clarification and understanding thank you I can just say one thing because I do know the answer that the kids would get their award there's some kids who already have received their Awards through the year this is just a night to recognize the accomplishment of it it's not

215just it's not a matter of physically obtaining if this is the place where we are going to celebrate it it shouldn't have to be a different kind of event think about doing it differently any further comment on that topic okay thank you any other topics before we close our or dialogue and discussion I do uh Wonder just seeing how the board meetings have proceeded over the past year if it does make sense to put board dialogue closer to public comment because I worry that a lot of people um leave the meeting between public comments and uh and board dialogue and may miss some clarifications or important information that is delivered after we do after we vote on the consent agenda it's just a thought that potentially it would be a more effective way of communicating

216or clarifying things that may cause some consternation in the community might be helpful for all I think the board can definitely have a conversation you know at around the time of reorg regarding the board agenda there have been changes made over time Julie and I had an interesting conversation at a dinner recently with someone talking about moving their public comment to the very beginning of their meeting actually with regard to board dialogue and discussion I think that the um objective in recent months has been to not respond directly to public comment from the evenings meeting but rather for for leadership and the superintendent in between meetings to reflect on what was shared in public comment presuming it's not time sensitive and of course right tonight there was time sensitive comment and that's a different story

217but um and then to Circle back in a future meeting either with an agenda item or board dialogue or an announcement to provide clarification in the public record for things that are just wrong and need to be corrected to provide edification for the board because sometimes things are said where it could raise new questions for board members and also to provide helpful clarification to the community so at times there has been an effort to do that but just to to sort of clarify but but tonight I think you raised the right point that you know if if there's a time sensitive comment and we want to spontaneously address that I think the other reason to put a little bit of distance between public comment and board dialogue from my own perspective is just the opportunity

218for board members and for administrators to collect their thoughts I think sometimes we hear a lot in public comment and it can be helpful to just have a couple of minutes to return our attention to what is the agreed upon business of the district without feeling completely distracted and urgency around responding to the thing that was just said that has now become the business of the district it was just something to think about with respect to whether the board wants to have an opportunity to pause and build in a little bit of time to gather thoughts just another perspective but I think it's a great suggestion that the new board should definitely talk about the order of events and the meetings and um you know there are always opportunities to adjust to the board's wishes

219we were at the West event that we were at last week like that was probably every board member from every District that I talked to said like so how do you do public I mean literally it was like it was the question of the night and it was interesting to hear how different people where they put public comment how they engage with public comments Etc probably one of those things like uh double tripping and tripping every 15 years switch back because you think the other way has all the answers yeah still plenty of schools though that haven't managed to start that later start time it's still a beacon for that it could still be a beacon for the even later start time middle and high school short time did you want to say something I

220did have a procedural question regarding that um once we have an agenda could a board member move to move public to move board dialogue earlier like you know the agenda set but we could like on a given night yeah like in the middle of them kind of be like can we could we push this agenda I know it's typically held that the board president is presiding over the meeting and is thinking through the order of events so it would certainly be an option available to a board member but it would be more courteous to say to the board president in advance hey I looked at the order of the agenda I'm thinking I'd really like to see it this way would you consider making a motion and then two allow the board I think I'm

221thinking of a situation where something comes up in board dialogue it seems like it would be prudent to respond could a board member make a motion like I'd like to make a motion to move upward dialogue before we get to the consent agenda certainly could you can always make a motion basically anytime for any motion really that's that is any board member's prerogative so yes the answer is definitely yeah I'll just say a couple of things on this topic I think I agree with Liz insofar as not everybody sticks around I hope there aren't people out there watching this on live TV at 10 45 at night but maybe there are I I know at least one um so there's something to be said for moving these conversations up in Uganda so that more people

222have an opportunity to hear them on the other hand and I know that we always offer opportunity to speak about specific consent agenda items but if you moved it ahead of the consent agenda or any other topic for that matter you wouldn't then have an opportunity to speak about that specific topic right so if it's ahead of a consent agenda you can play and talk about anything that was on the consent agenda right it's ahead of the presentations about anything that was in the presentation we may have that Advantage because we see the slides in advance but um I kind of like where it is but it's a shame that it has to happen so late in the evening but I think we also can think about that with agenda setting for next year with

223having maybe some sporadic meetings throughout the year where we don't have presentations so we kind of like have a parking lot for topics that we'd like to just have a discussion about and we save them and then we have like discussion nights I like that idea yeah just also just to point out when this meeting was originally scheduled it was going to have one presentation that was scheduled tonight no no I know but I think it also just for the public to even understand we do try to be thoughtful about tonight had a lot on it it wasn't originally planned to be that way there was going to be one presentation and much later in the year more recently we learned that the Architects needed to come back to do this presentation and then we

224had a very important discussion that we needed to have that we didn't anticipate so it did become a much larger meeting and I think the suggestion for next year is to think about reducing a little bit the number of presentations so there's more time for more to have discussion three the other topic comments okay not we will close the board dialogue and discussion go ahead to Future meetings um that brings us to July the board is next scheduled to meet on Thursday July 6th for the reorganization meeting in the John Jay High School library at 7 30 pm and I will make that motion to adjourn into executive session to discuss employment history of individuals seconded by Roy thank you all in favor please say aye zero thank you so much yeah I need to

225keep