001thank you welcome to the whole pack Central School District Board of Ed meeting June 15 2023 this is the last uh regular meeting of the school year uh I want to thank you for all for coming can I get a motion to open a meeting please second please all in favor aye can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance control we have a very exciting night planned for you plan for you for tonight uh we're going to go right into it uh I want to welcome all our special guests tonight and with that I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent Christine Tona foreign good evening everyone this was certainly a wonderful evening thank you all for coming those of you that joined us at the reception uh it was wonderful to see everyone
002and their families thank goodness it was a beautiful evening because I think it was uh extra special to be out in the brand new high school Courtyard so uh thank you all for joining us so tonight we're honoring 38 individuals who have served and as dedicated employees of the Mahopac Central School District and they are retiring at the end of this school year or they have retired earlier this school year not only have these individuals impacted the lives of many many students throughout their years in the whole pack they have also built wonderful friendships with colleagues in their buildings people in their departments and throughout the entire District so as I mentioned we spent time with our retirees and their families and enjoyed the beautiful reception outside I like to thank my assistant Melody larocca
003who spent quite a bit of time making on that event so special and and quite perfect so if we can all thank you thank you melody so tonight we're recognizing the important contributions of our retirees to our district and we'll be presenting them with just a token of appreciation for their service we truly all of the years that you've been with us here in the district um are truly uh World grateful for them especially the students who you've impacted their lives no matter what role you played in The District you truly made an impact on our students so on behalf of the entire District thank you for your dedication to the students your colleagues and the entire District I do wish you all many many years of health and happiness and at this time I
004would like to invite our first retiree to the podium Deborah Legato our assistant superintendent for human resources [Applause] [Music] so we have something to give you first thank you this is so much thank you thank you so much [Applause] so Deb is now going to recognize our retirees by name and as your name is called please join me up on the stage and then when Deb is all done she will come back up on the stage with her award um my fellow retirees uh congratulations to everyone if you're anything like me you're looking forward to turning off the alarm clock in the morning maybe having some nice vacations ahead of you but if you're also anything like me you will be missing all of our colleagues and Friends deeply so I really want to thank
005all of you that I've worked with these last six years um for welcoming me to Mayor pack and for all of your hard work and dedication to our schools our students and our staff so congratulations to all of you and we have a very long list here so I'll get right to it and some folks are not here but I will say their name anyway Amy Carlin who is a math coach at the three elementary schools [Applause] Judy cardillo principal office assistant at Austin Road [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Edward Casper he's a custodian also at Austin Rome [Applause] Elizabeth door elementary teacher at Austin Road [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Kathleen Harney ferstein Elementary teacher at Austin yep Kathleen short Barrett special education teacher [Applause] Marie sadalona teaching assistant at Austin row so is there at Austin Road
006retirees congratulations [Music] [Applause] please we have a school monitor Rosina Cronk from the fall School congratulations Rosina um yes now Falmer Road Catherine deselli Elementary yay [Applause] Andrea Jones also an elementary teacher at Farmer [Music] [Applause] Patricia La perruda teaching assistant [Applause] [Music] Chrissy Levy interventionist at foamer Road Carol stephanek elementary teacher performer [Applause] delicious um uh last but certainly not least at Farmer Road Christopher Winchell custodian [Applause] um uh now for our Mahopac High School Jill Arnold math teacher at the high school [Applause] Diana De bolo teaching assistant from the high school [Applause] our science teacher Kevin finnerty from the high school congratulations [Applause] School monitor Barbara gyro at the high school [Applause] Bernadette lingardo English teacher thank you Peter Pfeiffer he's Food Service cleaner at the high school [Applause] and last but not
007least Michael Robinson science teacher from high school [Applause] we have one retiree from Lakeview teaching assistant Barbara Curcio [Applause] is everybody going to fit um special education teacher from our Middle School Elaine Courtney [Applause] another special education teacher at the middle school Richard DeFrancesco [Applause] physical education teacher Paula McGee all right [Applause] [Music] [Applause] special education teacher Tracy rigger [Music] Middle School teaching assistant Karen Smith [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and our middle school special education teacher Mary wheeler [Applause] Jay Rice from our technology department school information systems data manager [Applause] and we have quite a few people from Transportation Michael Caruso School Bus Driver hey Mike [Applause] how are you [Applause] Judith frantangelo school bus driver [Applause] [Music] Yolanda Kennedy also a school bus driver [Applause] [Music] Rita lorenzini also a school bus driver [Applause] we
008have two School Bus aides Anita manzetta and Debbie Norton [Applause] Dan Seger Johnson school bus driver [Applause] and from uh our grounds Department Tim's France [Applause] exactly okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you anyway foreign [Applause] [Music] okay that was that was awesome thank you so much to our retirees uh just want to say thank you on behalf of my uh my daughter who graduated in 2016 one of her English teachers just retired I want to thank everybody I have a few close friends who just retired I want to thank them for their service and their friendship but we're going to keep the party atmosphere going here uh and with that I'll turn it back over to miss Tony thank you president hello so as um this is
009a night where we come full circle where we recognize our retirees for all of their service and we also get to congratulate our newly tenured candidates or who will be tenured after this meeting so um what we're going to do for this we're I'm going to start and then our principles are going to come up and they're going to speak about the tenure candidates from their buildings and we're going to ask our tenure candidates after you get your certificate if you could just sit in those first couple of rows over there and when everyone's done we'll bring everyone up for a photo but we're not going on the stage for this we saved the stage for our retirees so to start I'm pleased to present Stephen Luciana to the board of education for consideration for
010tenure as our director of Athletics physical education and health [Applause] throughout his probationary period Mr Luciano has demonstrated strong communication and collaboration skills while creating positive relationships with students staff and the community what stands out to me the most is he showcases our amazing students and our wonderful programs our wonderful athletic programs and encourages our student athletes to strive for high achievement in the classroom as well as on the fields and the courts it is my pleasure to recommend Steven Luciano for tenure [Applause] and now I would like to invite assistant superintendent Michael Trombley to the podium thank you Mr s to miss Tony the members of the Board of Education thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of Miss Lana bartosik's 10-year recommendation as our elementary literacy coach Lana exemplifies all the
011important characteristics of effective instructional coach and educator she builds relationships with administrators faculty staff and students she works constantly to implement sound instructional approaches she engages in ongoing professional growth and most importantly she remembers to put our students first and remembers what it means to be a teacher in the classroom it is my pleasure and honor to work with and learn alongside of Ilana and it is without reservation or hesitation to recommend Lana to the superintendent of schools for the awarding of tenure congratulations on [Applause] thank you and now I'd like to invite principal of Austin Road Brian Gilligan to the podium [Applause] good evening superintendent torna board president delullo assistant superintendents and Board of Trustees it is my privilege to share the achievements and contributions of our esteemed Elementary health teacher Rich Moran Rich
012joined our educational family after dedicating multiple years as a physical education teacher in the Bronx which was hired in November of his first year and was tasked with the responsibility of very quickly learning arcatified Health curriculum in developing relationships with staff and students at through all three elementary schools despite the challenges that awaited him and with the support of Val Nearman our high school health teacher he approached his new role with unwavering determination in eagerness to make a difference in the lives of our Young Learners which he has done on behalf of the three Elementary principles it is my honor to recommend Rich Moraine for tenure this evening [Applause] thank you very much [Applause] and now I'd like to invite Mr Gary Chadwick to the podium for former Road thank you very much congratulations again
013to all of our retirees and to our 10-year recipients this evening and I'd like to do a special congratulations to Melissa Lindsay on her recommendation for tenure this evening [Applause] she's an extremely caring and kind art teacher at Fulmer Road who takes the time to build positive relationships with each and every student students truly enjoy visiting her art room and I have enjoyed watching the students grow as artists over her time as their teacher I must also add that the fifth grade project was mounted in our lobby this morning and is absolutely amazing I look forward to many years together in watching our students flourish as artists it's my privilege to recommend Melissa Lindsay for her tenure this evening [Applause] thank you and now we'll invite Miss Jennifer pontillo to the podium to talk about
014Lakeview Elementary [Applause] [Music] thank you good evening everyone congratulations again to all our retirees um we have three candidates from Lakeview Marianne Fenster is first as Marianne here I didn't see her earlier Marianne yes oh all the way back there [Applause] Marianne joined our staff at Lakeview this year as a teaching assistant traveling over from Austin Road with one of our special classes Marianne is an integral part of that program so we were thrilled to have her join us she is a steady calm in the classroom is always working with groups of students and is such a team player she is Dependable professional and committed to Student Success she is an asset not only to Lakeview but to the Mahopac Central School District we are so lucky to have her it is my pleasure and
015without recommendation without reservation that I recommend you for tenure this evening congratulations thank you our art teacher Brooke O'Neill and I took my glasses off so now I really so Brooke was actually awarded tenure earlier this year but we are having the opportunity to celebrate tonight Brooke was hired during covid needless to say delivering art instruction through a Chromebook was quite challenging she Rose to the occasion but her potential was truly Unleashed once those restrictions were lifted I know we can expect to see more of her Creative Flair sprinkled around Lakeview for many years to come not only does Brooks sprinkle her creativity in the art room but she is an integral part of our PBIS team and other committees that she has immersed herself in and we will call bus Duty a committee so
016we really appreciate that it is without hesitation that I recommend Brooke for tenure this evening even though second of the series thank you Maureen powellski who cannot be with us this evening Maureen is a teaching assistant however she has worked in the district for over 20 years in different capacities four years ago she accepted a position as a TA and has simply excelled she is flexible professional and has a great working relationship with all staff and students Maureen's sense of humor and positive attitude make her an asset to any program it is my pleasure to recommend Maureen for tenure this evening congratulations [Applause] and now we'll invite Dr Matthew Lawrence principal of Mahopac High School [Applause] thank you Miss Turner Mr dulo or trustees thank you very much for this opportunity I have four very
017deserving candidates that we're going to present to the to the superintendent for recommendation for tenure and in thinking about introductions I did a little reflection on this covet group of teachers that we brought aboard to start out the school year and then move into a closure and then move into a hybrid situation and what a way to begin your teaching career at mayopac High School the the 10-year process is difficult for sure and I met with every single one of our candidates their very first year probably within the first week or so and let them know that number one we're going to be looking at your fit right with our kids and then and vice versa as well your growth in your instructional model and most importantly the level of intuition that you show in
018this profession and I will tell you that all four of these candidates especially with our closure and then moving into a hybrid situation showed resilience problem solving and a huge amount of intuition you need to be graduated on that so I will start uh so I I did something a little bit different this year usually I I will go through a list of accomplishments but knowing that the board has their entire packet of all the great things these teachers have done over the last four years I took a little side step on doing something a little bit different and I asked the candidates a couple of questions and I'm going to report back to you on the answer to to one or two of them so first is Peter vano school counselor so Peter started
019his career came to us from New Visions Charter High School in the humanities two in the Bronx and I asked Peter what stands out the most over over the four years at Mahopac High School first two words the kids we have some amazing students and every year I am blown away by the accomplishments and contributions that these students make to the school and the community also I love the people I work with especially my fellow counselors from day one they made me feel part of the team and went above and beyond to help me so it is my pleasure to recommend Mr peterbano for tenure as school counselor [Applause] next is Monica gular Italian people [Applause] so prior to coming to MHS Monica taught in both private and public schools in Newburgh Yonkers and in
020the Bronx so Monica came with a great amount of experience one asked the same question what stood out to you over the last four years the things I love about MHS are too many to mention but at the top of my list is the people the students and my colleagues it is not always the case where you find a team of co-workers that you can feel completely comfortable with initially everyone seemed friendly But as time went on I realized the dynamic team I had become part of I work with people who have become friends family people who encourage support and motivate me every single day to be better professionally and personally so it is my pleasure to recommend Monaco Galore for tenure as a talent teacher [Applause] foreign math teacher [Applause] so before joining us
021here at MHS Lisa did multiple leave Replacements in Eastchester and Katona and then worked in a private school in Yorktown Heights when asked the very same question Lisa responded the community the community feel that has been established here my colleagues are the best to work with all of my parents of my students are lovely to work with and the students are amazingly fun I feel that we all look out for each other so it's my pleasure to recommend Lisa manginelli for tenure mathematics [Music] [Applause] foreign next we have Mr Sam Correa Spanish people [Music] so Sam has been teaching at both Mahopac high school and Mahopac Middle School all four years of his probationary period got very impressive so prior to working at Mahopac High School and middle school sam worked at rosham view Alternative
022High School in White Plains so what stands out the most being both at the middle school and high school I have loved being able to become part of two amazing communities in many different facets from watching homecoming games and attending school performances to chaperoning trips I feel so proud and honored to watch students Excel both in and out of the classroom last but not least I love my department three exclamation points this is 100 a shout out to the whole world language department they Rock they have been more supportive than I could ever have hoped for and I look forward to continuing to work with these amazing Professionals for many years to come so it's my pleasure to recommend Sam Correa for tenure as Spanish teacher [Applause] and last but certainly not least I'd like
023to invite Mr Tom kozakria principal of Mahopac Middle School to the podium [Applause] good evening family superintendent Tona president delullo board members and district office I'm honored to be here speaking about two teaching assistants this evening that are being recommended for tenure at the Mahopac schools before I go any further I'd also like to congratulate all of the uh retirees today you are going to be extremely missed at the middle school and all the schools thank you I'd like to First congratulate Kathleen Conrad on her recommendation for tenure at the mayor Park schools [Applause] Kathleen has been a teaching assistant at the middle school for the last four years during this time she's worked with our seventh and 8th grade students she has always has a calm and gentle demeanor is a great support to
024our students she works with and it's extremely helpful in a very Middle School very busy Middle School environment Kathleen always takes the time to get to know her students she supports students when they need assistance and know when's to step back and let them soar on their own she's a team player and always puts the best interests of students first I'd like to congratulate Kathleen and recommend her without hesitation for tenure at the Mahopac Middle School I look forward to continued success thank you I'd also like to congratulate Deborah McDonald on her recommendation for tenure Deborah has always been a hard-working positive and dedicated teaching assistant who has taken on many roles in her four years whether it be in our skills 2 program or is it one to one ta she has always been
025flexible and tried to really get to know her students in every way possible her colleagues and the Middle School in general if they were talking about Deborah would say team player all the way and one that's willing to take on any channel s if it if it's what's good for students I'd like to congratulate Debra and recommend her without hesitation for tenure at Mahopac school and look forward to her [Applause] thank you and now we'll attempt to have all of our tenure candidates for a photo of the Board of Education wants to join we could try to do it right in front here I think you think how you think all right tenure candidates we're going to ask you to go up on the stage the board's going to stand in front if you if
026you could go up on the stage I was gonna say that foreign congratulations to all of our tenure candidates we look forward to a very long healthy and happy career here with us in Mahopac thank you can we give them tomorrow off no I guess not that was a joke just a joke a union representation is here so that's a joke all right so yeah so um thank you congratulations on a great this is a huge milestone I know in an education an Educators career and I just want to congratulate you and thank you for your um for your service and and your continued dedication to our students and to our uh to our district and we're just going to ask you to stay we have a couple of presentations and then we are going
027to take a short break to celebrate our tenure candidate so hopefully you can join us for a few more minutes thank you there's cake all right so I just want to make sure you know that if my son was here he'd be motivated for that so anyway all right we'll uh so with that we want to move we as part of a tradition here on the board of ed when we have trustees that have finished a term or have finished a couple of terms we acknowledge them as well so Michael Simone was on the board for I believe it was about five a little over five years and then he he moved on to something he withdrew from the board so he's not here tonight but we want to acknowledge his service and thank him
028I will say of Mike you know he's a he's a mayor pact through and through I think you know his family came from the main got off the Mayflower and came directly to May mayapak these two blue and gold mampak his mom I think was a first graduating class at Lakeview so he's got Roots Beyond you know those of most of us in terms of Mahopac he's a man of few words but when he speaks you should make sure you listen it's wise things come out of his mouth and and it's the last person he is 10 years older than me and he looks like he's 10 years younger so God bless him and I wish him all the best so we have uh Melody what do we have we have a a plaque right
029all right we have a plaque we're going to give it to Mr Martin who's going to give it to Mr Simone so with that uh let's give a round of applause all right we're going to continue with the presentations without a good uh bring it back to miss Tona thank you and uh this evening we have with us Adam Fetzer the chairperson of the social studies department at Mahopac high school he's going to do a short presentation about the Seal of Civic readiness [Applause] uh hi good evening thank you everyone here board members Miss Tona uh congratulations to all our 10-year candidates and our retirees as I was introduced I'm Adam fletzer I'm the social studies chair here at Mahopac high school as well as a member of the Civic CL committee over the last
030two years we have been working as a small committee on creating and implementing a program that would allow students to graduate with a seal of Civic Readiness which is a new diploma recognition that New York state has begun last year was the first year that they allowed pilot schools to award the seal we are one of the first school districts in New York state in the General State to offer the Civic seal I know we have all heard about the Civic seal probably through presentations from Mr Trombley but again the Civic seal of Readiness is a diploma distinction that is going to show students or show that how students have both learned as well as demonstrated a care a knowledge and a goal in being civically minded so not just trying to get through their
031average high school classes but going above and beyond in order to earn the Civic steel students throughout their eighth through 12th grade years need to earn a number of points on both a Civic knowledge as well as civic participation chart as you can see here these points are going to be earned by obviously demonstrating their abilities in Social Studies classes but also demonstrating their abilities to benefit the society and the community that they live in through either service learning projects Community oriented projects or extra credit uh not extra credit extracurricular activities that they participate in we encourage seniors this year as well as our younger grades to look and try to become more Global Citizens by pushing into their classes talking about earning the Civic seal and the benefits that it may have um talking
032about the qualities that the seal demonstrates their knowledge of government their ability to create change ability to take action ability to dismantle barriers for all in creating change and then obviously with the goal of a commitment to the community and bettering that community that they live in at the end of this year we will award currently 24 Civic seals to high school seniors this is the certificate that they will earn they also get a nice cord that they will be able to wear at graduation and as you can see in the upper left hand corner They will receive that extra seal of Civic Readiness Distinction on their diploma and again as I said 24 we actually just had one student earn it a couple of hours ago by submitting a couple more of their community
033service hours so we have to update that thank you very much I appreciate the time and um you know go may it back foreign thank you Mr Fetzer and congratulations to the 24 and possibly counting students who will be recognized next week at graduation and thank you to Mr Trombley for his efforts in implementing getting us started with the serious as well may may I real briefly Mr Professor thank you so much thank you Miss Tony Mr Trump with this I've always said this is so important I'll make it real brief Mr President as The Story Goes 1787 constitutional convention in Philadelphia a lot of debating to make the Constitution when Benjamin Franklin was leaving the hall The Story Goes a woman asked him Mr Franklin what government do we have do we have tyranny
034do we have a democracy Republic you said a republic if you can keep it and that's the responsibility of us as Citizens so it's so important that we have Civic ready students that are ready to engage in our system and protect our Democratic Republic so thank you Mr fester for doing that and thank you everybody [Applause] it's an incredibly important part of who we are here Maya practice is good citizens all right with that uh we're going to continue along here and the next item is a presentation from uh student group with Baptist Tona yes thank you so I'd like to invite those that are presenting on the Mojo pack students against cancer and it's Mrs manganelli good evening thank you for having us we would just like to share some accomplishments that this club
035has had this year um brief history uh it started last year at the request of some very dedicated and hard-working students and has continued this year mainly through the efforts and dedication of our president Jack Edwards He's going to speak in a little bit but I do want to share with you how honored I am to have had the opportunity to work with such dedicated and hard um passionate compassionate hard-working students who um put so much effort into something that affects a lot of us and what Jack probably doesn't have in his speech here is about the hours upon hours him and other classmates have put into spreading awareness just trying to get students involved Community involved I mean stories of him cutting ribbons and hot gluing them so that students could wear the colored
036ribbon for the month here at school just to spread awareness and I'm so proud of him and um look forward to continuing with this club thank you hi so is Miss manganelli so kindly stated I'm Jack Edwards and I'm the current president of Apex students against cancer it was truly a pleasure to work under miss manganelli this year as a long side as well as alongside my current officers um so first and foremost I would just like to go over our goals and objectives for this year so for cancer research our cooperation with local and private organization helps to further cancer research this would be primarily the Relay for Life organization as well as the American Cancer Society a supporting environment we aim to create an uplifting environment that discusses the ripples of cancer diagnosis
037within our community and Community involvement calling upon our school and the community members to fuel our fight against cancer um so our club officers it was three of us myself as president Chelsea Ritter as media promoter and Jennifer magana as a fundraising it was quite an intimidating feat to do it just three of us this year but I think it was a pretty successful endeavor um so every month this year we did a ribbon Drive um this was from one of our first for I think it was paint the town purple or something we did thousands of ribbons each month and we distributed them throughout the building just to show our support for cancer and those battling that specific type of cancer um and this basketball game was in commemoration of Mr Callahan it was
038themed in blue for colon cancer and we raised over 500 including a 50 50 raffle and ribbon handouts and Relay for Life this year we started with a Relay For Life kickoff this year at the uh uh American Legion it was really nice just to show our support for those fighting against cancer um additionally we did do a bake sale this year which raised over 250 dollars um and this is becoming somewhat of an annual activity here at MHS um the PI teacher in the face day we did do it last year as well and administrators the doc uments yes so we just have a quick little before and after picture and it was a really nice just to see everybody in the school getting involved and yeah um and Relay for Life this year
039we helped to spread the word and sign up for volunteers um email messages to the community about the update to this event event due to get the Canadian fires and help to sell Lumineers we did work extremely closely with Relay for Life this year it was a very nice partnership and for our future plans we hope to or the future students hope to continue to spread awareness through messages at school ribbon drives and club events as well as support Relay for Life and increase Community involvement thank you thank you so much for the presentation and your hard work for such an important cause and Relay for Life was was beautiful on Saturday it's a beautiful day and lots of participation thank you okay with that um all right so Adam uh vice president Savina will
040read a letter from oh we have a special guest never mind Tracy Casey might you'll be we'll be uh so Tracy Casey is the president of the Mahopac Teachers Association um we didn't expect her to be here to read the letter so uh we're glad she is yes I would have dressed better if I knew I was gonna go up to the podium you look for me um dear Board of Education trustees it may impact be Pride herself on excellence and teamwork it is in that spirit that the May APAC Teachers Association once again rose up in support of our students and worked diligently to ensure that the 2023 budget was passed by our community we believe that working in tandem with others who are dedicated to our children such as the board and superintendent
041Tona ensures the Excellence ensures that Excellence is at the Forefront of all of our missions as an associate Association we are keenly aware that rigorous and plentiful programs made available for our students are necessary so they can have the best opportunities to succeed and have Bright Futures this year the Mahopac Teachers Association doubled down on our effort to get this done our members made over 1 000 phone calls and sent over 1 000 text messages to nicet members encouraging them to go out to the polls and vote Yes for your budget we also sent over out over 200 to sorry 2 500 eye-catching and informative postcards while additionally running two full ads in the Mahopac news the manipac Teachers Association understands that a successful budget not only helps our school Community but also has a
042significant impact on the values of our homes in our community we are grateful that our budget has passed we wanted to thank you Trustees for all of your hard work in putting together a responsible budget we know this task can be thankless and unnoticed but be assured there are many who see the work you do and appreciate it thank you very much I appreciate it my comments and you look fine by the way don't worry about it you don't need to dress up um all right thanks again uh to all of our teachers sorry Adam Adam said Adam was kicking me on the desk here all right sorry about that next is okay this is a new rule coming from nisbo which is the uh New York State uh School Board Association it's a new
043term called cake break so we are now taking a cake Break um we're we're gonna wrap the motion we have the motion all right can I get a motion to have a recess please so second please all in favor aye all right take break and please take more than one piece there's a big cake up there I'm sure and thanks again to all our all our teachers and retirees and uh enjoy the break alrighty ladies and gentlemen uh can I get a motion to come out of recess second please all in favor all right thank you um all right are there any comments on the agenda items Miss loraca there are not all right the Nate next item is the finance thank you so an hour ago was when all right let's you're gonna is
044it are you the only one is that Kate okay all right come on up kid [Music] three minutes please okay we got a ton of stuff to go on good evening my name is Kate Bellantoni a few months ago I brought an example of content guidelines that one school district used to help find Common Ground between what parents want their children to have access to in the libraries and what say New York State wants as I repeatedly mentioned before it's completely unrealistic to expect parents to vet each and every book going into the library and using this opt-out system that you are basing your argument on I have 14 years left in this District if I have to keep on foiling lists of new books every six months take on challenges so be it but
045it's really just not the answer and I don't want to do it it's not time effective and it's not cost effective as our state and worlds rapidly changes so must our policies I'm not sure if this example I gave was even looked at I don't know um but I urge you to please consider a policy change Implement guidelines and put our trust back into the district secondly I work watch the work session and I'm really happy to see the CCTV access being given to the Sheriff's Department as they had requested I think it's a really good first step to the many improvements needed on the security side and I hope we can continue putting these enhancements first before anything else as there's really just nothing more important than our kids safety and lastly as much
046as everyone probably cringes every time Melody calls my name to speak as a resident I want to thank you all for all your hard work and dedication the past year I know it's a tough thinkless volunteer position and I know each of you are trying your best with good intentions even even though we rarely agree on things thank you thank you Miss Bellantoni thank you very much I appreciate those comments and uh as always I appreciate anybody who has the uh it's not easy to come up the mic and give your opinion so I appreciate people who do that anybody else Isabel okay yeah she's not here all right all right uh next is the uh more of a routine the routine uh review of the of the approval of the um the finances and
047the minutes so I'm gonna go one by one I'm gonna go Fairly uh quickly so if anyone has any questions uh just uh stop all right can I get a motion to approve the treasures the treasure report of April 2023. so moved can we get a second please all in favor aye can I a motion to approve the warrants for April of 2023. second all in favor aye uh can I get a promotion to approve Revenue status report April 2023 second second all in favor aye you're gonna get a motion to approve the budget transfers for April 2023 so moved oh second all in favor aye can I get a motion to approve the claim audit report April of 2023 second all in favor can I get a motion to approve the minutes for the
048May 17th work session second please second all in favor aye and finally can I get a motion to approve the minutes for the May 18th regular board meeting so move second please all in favor aye thank you very much with that we're going to move to the superintendent report uh our superintendent Christine toner thank you president delullo so first I'd like to announce I'm proudly recommending to the Board of Education Elizabeth blessing as our new principal of Lakeview Elementary School [Applause] Mrs blessing has been an assistant principal in our district for the past six years and is currently shared between Lakeview and Fulmer Road schools she has a background a strong background in special education and when she came to Mahopac as a special education administrator she did so 12 and a half years ago
049so I have enjoyed working with Mrs blessing this past school year and I look forward to her success in her new role so again please join me in congratulating Mrs blessing on her pending appointment [Applause] also on tonight's agenda I am recommending Stephanie Grace as the new assistant principal at Mahopac Middle School [Applause] Miss Grace comes to us from the Briarcliff Union Free School District where she has served as a special education teacher and an acting assistant principal she has 14 years of experience and her special education background her experience and her love of children made her stand out during the interview process so again please join me in welcoming Mrs Grace to Mahopac and I would also like to announce that High School assistant principal Mrs April umich will be in a new role
050come July 1. she will be overseeing our district guidance department so congratulations Mrs umich we're very very excited about your new role congratulations and last but not least it's someone's last board meeting so Mrs Legato you will certainly be missed thank you for all of your efforts over these past five years it's been a pleasure to work with you this year and everyone here is going to miss you as well enjoy retirement so June is a busy month with wonderful celebrations we heard about uh the cancer students against cancer club and they participated in Relay for Life last Saturday it was really a wonderful event if you've never been I encourage you to go it was moving it was a beautiful day after dealing with air quality for several days before so next year it'll
051be the first or second Saturday in June so hopefully everyone can join us and this month at senior Awards night senior athletic awards were just last night all the field trips and outdoor activities and end of the year activities for the students it's wonderful to see all the smiles whether I'm physically at the events or I'm catching up through photos on the website and social media so thanks to all of our administrators it's an exhausting month and uh congratulations on on getting through a successful year so our moving up ceremonies are next week Middle School is Tuesday Austin Road is Wednesday Lakeview and former Road on Thursday and graduation Thursday at seven we're hoping for sunny skies um so right now our high school middle school students they're in the midst of their Regents exams
052and final exams and I just want to remind the community that Monday June 19th we don't have school in celebration of Juneteenth and we have Elementary half days on a Tuesday through Friday the 20th through the 23rd so to everyone in the community enjoy the end of the Year festivities and have a wonderful summer [Applause] okay I have one more uh announcement and we are about to approve amongst other things an extension to our superintendent's contract so this is Christine Tona I'm not going to do like the administrators did and talk about her past so this she's finished her rookie year um and it's been very eventful and with that we are extending her contract one more year so she was signed up uh actually starting it'll be two weeks in two weeks it'll be
053a year and we will extended her contract to the end of June 2026. yes I did so a round of applause [Applause] on behalf of the board it's been a real pleasure working with you and I know the district is better off that you're here okay um now we get to do our committee reports and this was a busy month with that we're going to start with uh the facilities committee uh trustee Dave fafaro if you can give us a little rundown on what happened I think it was last week or the week out before that 8th of June four o'clock uh we actually met at fulma Road and we're at a tour of the library which is just about complete and it's a book since the punchless work it looks great going on um
054did you get an update on the sale of uh tele district office we talked about some Lakeview playgrounds and hopefully maybe playgrounds at all the elements business capitalized get updated on a capital project um we also talked about maybe get some bathrooms cleaned up at the district that would be our kind of our next thing playgrounds first time bathrooms just attendance was myself vice president Savino trustee Martinez now and Tim thank you thank you Dave okay next is um the finance meeting with that trustee Jonathan Schneider Jonathan want to give us a uh your minutes thank you thank you for the June finance committee meeting we met on June 8th uh 2023 at 6 24 we began our meeting in the district office uh president was myself as the chair trustee massafra trustee Savino trustee
055uh delullo superintendent Tona and assistant superintendent of business how topics that we had discussed included the review of The District financials and budget transfers we had discussions as well about the facilities in regards to the uniform bathroom facilities that were expected to begin soon as well as discussions on uh improving new playgrounds at all elementary schools in the future there was funding discussions specific to the Lakeview capital projects for the status of the remaining items and discuss the need for a roof at Lakeview with possible funding sources as well we had discussed the invoice processing in relation to purchase order specifically and looking at changing that to include open POS and that will help increase efficiency for our procurement while maintaining controls and fiduciary duties we had discussed as well the 23-24 school budget process
056and we want to continue to keep building on the wants and needs separate from our rollover so we discussed how we'll look at that in future years we reviewed balances from the 23 2223 timeline and we are expecting to review this in the fall after the audit is completed and they close the books for the 2223 school year at which point we will be looking at placing those funds into two accounts that we'll be voting on tonight as well we reviewed responses regarding the rental increases from the preschools that currently located at the fall school all of the providers are good with the rate increases that we had proposed which are in line with what our increase on the levy was and that concluded the meeting at 7 18. terrific thank you all right next
057is the HR oh sorry all right the human resource uh meeting with vice president Savannah foreign okay the HR committee met on June 8th from 505 to 8 uh 6 15. uh present were myself president doolo trustees Martinez and masafra superintendent Tona and assistant superintendent of HR Miss Legato uh we reviewed tonight's HR agenda the list of retirees to be recognized the list of tenure candidates resignations um retirees for next year candidates for appointment list of grade level level reps and Department chairs for 23-24 school year Staffing for the 2023 esy program coaching appointments for fall of 2023 Sports terms and conditions for the managerial confidential employees and some moas with the MTA and the AMA um again we concluded at 1815 and that's all we have thanks okay next is our policy or with
058that or turn it over to senior trustee Lucy masafra good evening and have a very busy evening for all of us the policy committee met at 7 30 on June 8th uh president was myself as chair uh vice president Adam Savino of Tanner McCracken trustee a superintendent Christine Tona our attorney Dan Pettigrew and our district clerk Melody larocca some of the items that we discussed this evening was policy 2342 which governs board meetings and agenda preparation we also discussed a board meeting procedures regarding uh when board members sorry when we have our meetings and going forward we're going to be following the Roberts Rules of Order uh in addition to that our agendas will now have finance committee reports included in the consent agenda just to allow easy a flow at our meetings we also
059talked about um if a trustee misses meetings what is the proper governing regulation if they miss work sessions or regular meetings how is it determined if the office if the position is left vacant um that also any board member can bring this matter forward to the board if there is a concern uh some of the other things we spoke about is electioneering on school grounds this discussion was in regards to campaigning uh we were advised that uh based on New York state law campaigning can occur 100 feet from the voting machines that this is uh falls under the First Amendment rights we asked our attorney to do a little bit more research about can that be expanded and it was also confirmed that our district clerk oversees the election and the laws are surrounding it
060so I just want to say we adjourned at 851 and just want to commend Melody for a great job with this year's election elections are never easy but she always does them transparent for us so thank you melody [Applause] okay thank you very much uh next is a donation with that I'm going to turn it over to trustee McCracken Tanner I want to just let us know about that please be it resolved the Board of Education hereby accepts the following donations from the MHS yearbook committee a thousand dollars from the whole pack septo thousand dollars from a whole pack High School PTO and 4979.49 in equipment donate donate apartment that's 36 gator skin foam balls three ping-pong tables 25 tennis rackets 200 tennis balls 36 Ultra star frisbees which is the way of the ultra
061stars are the best 12 TDY footballs 96 pickleballs I hope they're Franklin's those are the best 120 birdies for badminton and 50 ping pong paddles thank you so much for your very generous donation yearbook committee so moved to accept the donation all right uh sure just in a matter of being as efficient as we possibly can is it possible and I don't maybe we go back to the committee for future but they spent 385 dollars in sales tax if they give the donation to the school for those specific items we save 385 dollars so maybe going forward we'll accept a monetary donation specifically earmarked for those materials this way we at least don't give the state extra money okay thank you but yeah Kudos all around I think it's exceptional see almost seven thousand dollars
062come from the yearbook committee to go around the school it's a great job all right thanks thanks John uh so uh on that motion I'll make a motion to accept it is that all right yeah just if you want to Second it that would be great yep thank you all in favor all right all right thank you very much to the uh the yearbook committee always very generous group okay uh next is on the new business is we have uh the committee has reviewed additional five books that have been challenged I'm going to read the resolutions um and I'll do that as quickly as I can and then we're going to take a vote I think the best way to do this is probably just go up and down the table as quickly as we
063can and um and we'll do it that way the first one is the resolution just in terms of the process so uh here we go so be it resolved upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Board of Education approves the process this that apparent of any student that does not wish you were there student to borrow a book May notify the building principal or librarian in writing and an alert will be placed on the student's account to notify the librarian during book checkout um so with that I think yeah we'll just start with uh Tanner wait wait uh so yeah so yep not the exact policy I've advocated for but I think it's better than nothing and better than not having it so I vote I I okay yes so I would like to
064motion to add something to this uh resolution okay let's see all right all right uh can I get a second on the motion what what's up yeah what yeah can you tell us what the motion is what do I do that's what it is so parent of any student that does not wish for their student to I'm sorry to borrow a book May notify the building principle or librarian in writing and an alert will be placed on the student's account to notify the librarian during book checkout um it has come to our attention as a board that this has not always worked so I would like to see that we add in all our school buildings a digital online lab Library so parents can utilize this process for parental controls parents can select books they
065wish their children to read and not to have access to so this would have to be a modification other school districts do have their library books online for parents to view and I would like to see uh parental controls at that time so when parents see what books are in the child's library at that time they could determine what book they would want their child not to have access to so they could have a proper discussion with their child go ahead art library is digital the parents do have access to the books that are in the library there is no mechanism for the parents to be able to digitally put that request it needs to go through the librarian or the building principle and then they'll they can physically put that alert on the child's
066account but the library is digital so maybe a share with me because I couldn't find it online it's comparable as other schools that I've seen so maybe we can have a discussion about that yeah I could send you the link to the to the online library do you want the high school well really I think we should have all the schools they're all on each individual school's website okay um so at this time I would say no unless I see this added on okay thank you pointing are we are we on the vote or entertaining motions at this time I'm I think it was the vote and I put in a motion she put in the motion we seconded the motion and I said no we didn't second the motion so no motion the motion
067was seconded no it was seconded yes yes it was by who a I don't know if she read it first oh well you asked you wanted to see what it was yeah but first you have to second that you can even make emotions all right that's my uh that's my bad so um and resolution that was read right so you vote no my vote no okay Jonathan uh Tanner are you okay all right thank you okay go ahead Jonathan um it is it's definitely not the ideal uh but there are parameters in there um I'll vote Yes okay thank you so miss larocca does the motion carry motion carries okay all right now I'm going to go through the books here we go Beyond magenta whereas the book via magenta is deemed a challenge book
068and is currently included in the general circulation at the high school library or as placement of the book in the high school in the high school was challenged on December 16 2021 whereas a district curriculum book committee convened reviewed and provided a recommendation to the superintendent of schools in May of 2023 be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the book you know magenta remain in the high school library um yeah I don't I don't need a motion here right like we're just going to vote correct that's the way this has been working so I'm gonna motion motion yeah so motion to accept the recommendation second all right so now we go up and down all right now go ahead Tanner go ahead okay next yes yes yes sorry I lost tracker
069so I'm gonna abstain I I voted yes for the policy so I'll vote Yes for the book Melody it passes all right next is all boys all boys aren't blue whereas the book all boys aren't blue is deemed a challenge book and it's currently included in the general circulation at the high school library whereas placement of the book in the high school was challenged on December 16 2021 whereas a district curriculum book committee convened reviewed and provided a recommendation of the superintendent of schools in January 2023 be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the book all blue boys aren't blue remain in the high school library can I get a motion to accept second okay go ahead Tanner we'll work it your way today yes I still abstain okay and although
070yes emotion carries out of darkness is the next book whereas the book out of excuse me sorry about that out of Darkness esteemed a challenge book and is currently included in the general circulation of the high school library whereas placement of the book in the high school was challenged on December 16 2021 whereas a district curriculum book committee convened reviewed and provided a recommendation to the superintendent of schools in May 2023 be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the book out of Darkness remain in the high school library in a motion to accept second please Tanner go ahead yes yes thank you oh she carries okay Bluest Eye whereas the book The Bluest Eye is the challenge book and is currently included in this General circulation at the high school library
071whereas placement of the book in the high school library was challenged on December 16 2021 whereas a district curriculum book committee convened reviewed and provided a recommendation to the superintendo schools in February of 2023 be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the book The Bluest I remain in the high school library and I get a motion to accept the motion can I get a motion to it resolution sorry second can I get a second second but Tanner go ahead yes stain yes okay last one uh sorry motion carries all right monster whereas the book monster is deemed a challenge book and is currently included in the general circulation at the high school library and the eighth grade reads section of the Middle School library whereas placement of the book in the Middle
072School library eighth grade read section and the high school was challenged on December 16 2021 whereas a district curriculum book committee convened reviewed and provided a recommendation to the superintendent of schools in February 2023 be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the book monster remained in the high school library and the 8th grade read section in the Middle School library can I get a motion to accept second please uh Tanner yes okay thank you very much uh with that the next few motions I'm going to pass it over to vice president Sabino thank you Adam whereas on April 18th 2023 the Board of Regents unanimously voted to adopt the port 123 of the regulation of the commissioner of Education relating to the prohibition of the use of indigenous team names mascots
073logos by public schools the mascot discontinuous regulations and whereas the mascot discontinuous regulations became effective as of May 3rd 2023 and whereas the mascot discontinuance regulations require among other things that public school districts adopt a resolution by the end of the 22-23 school year identifying a plan to commit to eliminate the use of it all indigenous names logos and mascots by the end of the 24-25 school year now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the mohobach Central School District in compliance with the mascot discontinuance regulations hereby commits to a plan to eliminate the use of all indigenous names logos and mascots across all public schools within the district by the end of the 24 2024-2025 school year in a manner to be recommended by the superintendent of schools in consultation with
074individuals as design designated by her I offer this motion double second all in favor aye aye opposed I get the next one right we're asked to comply with the mascot discontinuance regulation the superintendent of the Mahopac Central School District formulated a mascot committee to formulate a new mascot name now therefore be it resolved upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Board of Education hereby adopts the new name wolf pack as the Mahopac Central School District mascot beginning with the 2023-2024 school year I offer this motion you have a second all in favor aye aye I abstain yep oh okay I'm sorry yes okay thank you very much uh next is the consent agenda okay can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda all in favor aye thank you very much okay with
075that we're going to move to our uh public comments first before I read all this is there anybody who is up to speed yes okay so we ask both speakers uh to basically be you know we're public to Quorum appropriate for a school address to address myself for the board and conduct yourself in a civil manner no obscene language libelist statements threatens threats of violence statements advocating racial religious or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated they should be made in a respectful manner the board president I will cut off the comments need to be derogatory inflammatory inappropriate and that personal attacks or criticism of any person connected with the district will not be permitted at this point we'll open the floor for public commentary Ms loraca is there any person who wants to
076speak signed up to speak okay all right education give it one of these all right thank you to superintendent Tony on the board of education for hearing us today my name is Samantha and I'm here with Amanda Vogel and Maxine van Norwick we are here today to represent the students here at Mahopac high school we intend to present several problems that lie here within the building and ways we have thought that these problems can be addressed to make the school a better environment for all um the first issue I would like to recognize is um food and food in in this um in the school thank you to the Capitol thanks to the capital Bond project the state of the high school cafeteria has gotten better but the food here is not that level of
077Health that we should be striving for as a district the Buffalo the meal stir the the meals served here in the school are meant to fuel our minds and bodies that fuel is typically buffalo chicken pizza or cookies the typical fruit or vegetable that ends up on a student's plate is either a frozen cup of strawberries and sugary syrup or canned vegetables students unanimous unanimously agree with the food is below their standards which is why we propose Solutions of hiring a district nutritionist and implementing a gardening program as a district-wide nutritionist will be able to work with the cafeteria staff in the different schools to help meal prep and a way to ensure students get all the vitamins and minerals they need we also believe a garden will be beneficial in changing the cafeteria at
078the high school a guard club or elective could be put into the high school to teach students about agriculture earth science the climate and Supply chains the produce from this Garden could be used to add a fresher elementary students everyday lunches and then the food at mapac high school can be more than just soon to be trash processed vegetables it can be a chance for students to learn about their own health positive eating habits and science down here hello okay um another problem that the school faces is inadequate infrastructure and Facilities that frequently break down a school should have clean working facilities available to students at all times but the high school bathrooms violate this obligation the bathroom has flooded several times throughout the school year becoming such a big problem that high school students
079have gotten used to not being able to use the bathroom issues like this impede on a student's ability to focus and learn in class in order to fix the problem of the chronically damaged bathrooms at Mahopac we propose additional funds in the 2024-2025 budget to be allocated towards updating the Plumbing Systems Additionally the lining in the school brings a sense of discomfort and dismay into the school atmosphere in other schools the lighting is typically always offerable and shines a light color to create a less less harsh atmosphere most of Apex lights are either a bright yellow or failed to work at all in order to fix these lightings we believe that the funds left in the capital Bond project budget for lighting should be used to repair all broken lights and invest in less saturated
080ones these implementations would benefit the district by making a more comfortable environment for both students and staff thus instilling a sense of Pride and attachment to mapac high school mapac has a lot of opportunity to grow which has already demonstrated through the capital Bond project but that growth needs to be continued to try to cultivate the best learning environment possible to our district students we'd like to thank our English teacher Mr Millar for encouraging all of his students to come here to the board meeting today to you know bring these issues to light and thank you to the superintendent and the board for your time have a good evening thank you very much I always appreciate the voice of the students Miss Tony do you want to sorry I just want I just wanted I
081just wanted to thank you guys because you are 100 right you are what you eat and starting at the high school and the lower grades is the most important thing so I commend you and I thank you so much for coming forward and especially the um the bathrooms I was actually a student here and many times I go into the facilities here and they're the same bathrooms when I went to school here so that's not a good thing so I commend you and I thank you and I think that should be a top of our list I wish you would come to us when we're working on the budget this year because we would have made it something that we could have done more so but that will definitely be on our top for me
082this year thank you thank you very much and uh thank you to our students they're students that are very involved in in the high school so I commend them for coming this evening um you may have heard earlier uh trustee for Pharaoh mentioned that the bathrooms were brought up last week at our facilities committee so we're working on a plan for that that's we hear you that's not acceptable to have flooding out of the bathrooms especially the past couple of times over the past month and a half or so we're working on a strategic plan and I can see the Garden Club or Farm to Table sustainability type program being something that we strive for we we have mentioned that in our conversations um the food that served in the cafeteria we we have a
083new Food Services director this year so I will certainly reach out to her and encourage her to set up a meeting with you so that you can express your concerns directly to her and she could talk to you about um steps that they could take possibly to make some changes the food that's served is in compliance with the the federal guidelines for food and school nutrition uh the lighting I will speak to the facilities director about as well and I commend your English teacher and your class for doing your advocacy work so thank you all if you could if you could for certain um if you have a list of ones that are actually broken that would be fantastic if you could forward it to Mr Millar or to to um Dr Lawrence this way
084they have something to go on I'll be most certainly be looked into thank you yeah thank you um I I really want to commend you not just for getting up because it this day and age it's very easy for people to talk about what's wrong but you actually came with suggestions and solutions and that's what we really need so it's great to see not only our students talking with each other figuring out what are the problems but more importantly is what are the solutions that's the leadership that we look forward to uh constantly coming out of this school so commend you for suggestions and solutions and not just problems thank you anybody else want to say anything well everyone spoke so I guess no all I'll also say is these are also incredible students I
085have the pleasure of seeing them every year in the drama company production great actresses great performers great singers they're always always do a great job you're looking at Trek Pinocchio and uh musicians you're looking at Shrek Pinocchio and uh you were not a frog a mouse you're one of the mice great job girls every year all right anybody else all right well I'm really happy that we oh go ahead Lucy are you on no I'm on now so we used to have students at our board meetings monthly I think it was the most Club if I remember so I don't know they're not coming like they used to but maybe you guys should come to our monthly meetings and give us updates once we start our meetings again in July when school starts in September
086keep us on track and you keep reminding us and this way we bring the discussions to the Forefront so what do they call is most the student government isn't it they're not a part of it but they're the student government still exists right yeah all right but you guys could come anyway yeah we would it's open yeah yes all right all right I I there is another speaker all right Mr Frank okay um thank you [Music] um superintendentona Ford president de Lilo I just wanted to talk about [Music] um I was I just read the something that was issued from the State Education Department of New York it's called the create creating a safe and supportive and affirming School environment for transgender and gender expansive students 2023 legal update and best practices my concern is
087that they're very detailed protocols in this document and I don't know if the parent I guess the school board looked at it but one of my concern is that as the case was with the Native American mascot originally things were recommended but then they put the financial teeth in it and they came out and we were threatened with financial Rune if we didn't comply so there are a lot of things a lot of points discussed in this 42-page document that looks like you know hands coming out of the Grave I don't know what they're thinking but um it talks about under the dignity for all act it talks about uh defining gender as an actual person's perceived sex and includes a person's gender identity it says that they can't deny access to school facilities functions
088opportunities or programs not limited to restrooms changing rooms locker rooms and field trips because of Title Nine it says that prohibiting a student from accessing the restroom that match their gender identity is prohibited sex discrimination under Title IX I really think that it's not really a good idea that students should not feel threatened in their personal spaces bathrooms and locker rooms to see someone who is a male who may identify as a female who still has all their whatever I'm not going to go into it um there have been cases of rates and sexual assault so I think something like this is disconcerting um other things are the school's acceptance of asserted gender identity should require no more than a statement from the student expressing their preference schools do not need permission letters from professionals
089or any proof it's concerning to me because you don't need any psychological evaluation or counseling to verify this identity issue it's very common during puberty for individuals to sometimes question their body but now it's being encouraged is a real option there's evidence in addition to borderline personality disorder gender dysphoria is more common among the autism spectrum of adolescent girls and this sense in in extent the affirmative approach where youths profess gender identity is accepted as as a move forward toward medical transition without further diagnostic evaluation this was the reasoning behind there was a recent year UK Court decision that showed that this was wrong I don't know if anybody has read Abigail schreier's irreversible damages um I'm sure it's not in our library but it also provides a lot of information as to students who
090have transitioned and what their families go through and the negative impacts of it my Paramount consideration is just protecting the health and safety of the student it also recommends that if um School Personnel think they're um you know perhaps they haven't a student hasn't come out at home and they may be maltreated at home they can report the parents to the school registry and they provide a school registry you're at three and a half so yeah so I just think it's I just want to know that make this known to parents maybe they can easily go look at it it's on the State Education website and it's pretty eye-opening and I think it's important for us to be wary of it okay thank you very much Miss Frankel anybody else MS larocco that's it all
091right let's read it so good evening everyone I'm actually quite I don't want to say shop because I'm actually not but by a couple of votes I am it's actually very sad to see that the Mahopac school district is still first using Teachers College curriculum um that continues to fail students and you applaud you know having a teacher's coach up here in oil and she knows she should know by now that that is failing students in elementary schools it's also very sad to see that the district is keeping pornographic materials available to minors in the school it's sad to see that these books that depict violence where children are killing their teachers in a classroom are still in circulation in the school now it's really a shame that we have had ours we were all
092gifted with senses right our five senses our sense for sight has been completely blinded our sense for hearing has been deafened our sense to speak in many ways has been censored by the board here being cut off when I read from a book that you chose to keep now some of you may be thinking oh no I was listening to you you were not listening you heard my words but you did not hear my message and as you continue okay to subject minors to pornographic materials you are continuing to give into the woke ideology but I want to say thank you to all the board members here for one thing is one thing that all each and every one of you made me realize and that is that you can't talk sense into the senseless
093and I mean that from the bottom of my heart all right anybody else all right as always I'd like to thank everybody who comes to the to the podium we had a very celebratory night we we had folks who were at the tail end of their career and at the end of their career they got a couple of weeks left and we celebrated them we celebrated folks who just got 10 years so they've just hit a milestone in their career and we thank them and we wished them well as they're going to bring education in in our district to the uh to the next level we congratulated new hires we have uh we congratulate them directly we always we have a tradition now we have the common with their families and their friends and we
094did that we have a we have a really growing strong uh the cabinet and administrative staff I think we're getting better and better for every new change change is not easy uh I think this was a good year a positive year I am very proud and I want to say thank you to my fellow trustees because this is not I do love this word and this is not easy work and I enjoy and I want to thank them individually and as a group for all the work that they've done we take this very seriously and we bring we bring our talents and our gifts forward and I want to thank them I want to thank thank the superintendent who is about to finish her rookie year I don't think they have rookie they don't have
095baseball cards for superintendents but we can get a rookie card made or some sure somebody can make it but that's my last bad joke but I just want to thank everybody and again I want to thank people for coming up here this is the end this is the last regular session uh we may end up having another session to do some other business and um I want to wish everybody a great graduations next next week have a great summer if you don't talk to you uh we will be meeting over the summer and with that I'm going to ask for a motion to close the meeting second please all in favor aye thank you very much and have a great summer [Applause]