001Good evening. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the board of education. Today is Wednesday, March 18th. We stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We'll continue with the reading of the mission statement. We are committed to academic achievement and success for all students in a safe environment in partnership with families in our community. Our mission is to promote confidence, inspire a passion for learning, and to prepare our students to become responsible global citizens. Is there a motion to approve the revised agenda? Motion. Second. All in favor? Motion. So carries. Questions and comments from interested citizens. We have one comment um from
002Carol Stoopoulos. Welcome Carol. Is this on or do I have to do something? Oh, it's on. Okay. Uh good evening. Uh, first I would like to thank you all for your service. I haven't been to a meeting before, but I've read uh your backgrounds and uh they're very impressive. I'm so impressed. Um, and I understand the commitment and dedication that it means to serve on a school board. I was on one in Massachusetts back in the late 1980s. I'm now a grandparent who became guardian of a grandson a few years ago. He was wonderfully served in the Monroe Woodbury schools and I feel very fortunate to have experienced excellent communications with his teachers and administrators and including Miss Gentiel who registered him. Thank you. Um so my request for time at this meeting concerns in
003our community. I'm co-organizer of a local nonpartisan group that advocates for immigrant rights. Hands off Hudson Valley is its name and I'm representing the group here today foremost to share some information with you. I've spoken before the Monunroe Town and Village Boards bothformationally and to request their adoption of resolutions in support of two bills before the state legislature. the Melt Act, which means mandating an end to lawless tactics, and New York for All Act, which would prohibit state and local police officers from collaborating with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws and from sharing sensitive information with ICE. It would also prohibit ICE agents from entering non-public areas of state and local property without a judicial warrant and would ensure that people in custody are given notice of their rights before being interviewed by ICE. The
004Monroe Town Board has passed the resolution in support of the Melt Act and has committed to the New York for All Act resolution. These resolutions then go to our state legislators, speaker of the house, Senate President, and Governor. We hope the acts then get the requisite number of votes to be passed into law. Our group has had several conversations with the village of Monroe Middle Eastman beginning of August and ongoing take place March 27th and with the participation of a member of a local resident rapid response group. Ongo communication is so important. We understand the school department has a general policy that covers all visitors to the schools. But unless I'm missing something in all the policies, I've read through them all. There is none that are specific to ICE. We're sure you're guided by
005the protocol set out by the state attorney general. But what would be helpful in the interest of communication is if you would consider a public statement, something similar to what I can show you from Newberg, but more specific to Monroe Woodbury. Uh, and if I'm going to just hand these out here, I think there are 12 or Um, and I know this isn't to be a dialogue. I'm just communication and the hope that there could be some kind of a public statement which would inform the community the way the chief of police of Monroe is trying to do and different officials in the town. And I I don't know about Wood, but I live in Monroe. Okay. So, um, if I can follow up though with this, I don't know who would be the appropriate
006person, uh, or persons to contact. That's the only question that I would have >> the district clerk. >> You can contact me Diane Diane, the >> registar. Okay, very good. Okay. Thank you for your attention. I I appreciate it very much having been given this opportunity. Thank you, Miss Saratop. Sarat Saratropolis. >> Next up, there is a presentation on the uh district goals >> art budget presentation for the 2627 school year. Mr. Okay. Ho. Oh, that's a nice good evening. Thank you for allowing me to present the proposed personnel budget for the 2627 school year. Before I get started, I also want to thank the business office for their help and preparation in developing the overall budget and also this presentation. Specifically, Patrick Cjo, Michael Luamande, and Patricia Wallace. They played an integral part in
007in this. So, thank you to their efforts. Tonight I will be reviewing the following things. The full-time equivalents, the FTEEs districtwide, the special aid fund FTEES, the expenditures and salaries for the proposed budget for 2627, and then also the employee benefits as well. Today I'm going to walk you through the FTE changes in the general fund. So you'll see three columns here. You'll see what was allocated in the 2526 school year. In the middle you have on the left the 2627 proposed allocation of FTEES and then the difference all the way to the right. The vast majority of these changes you're seeing are due to recoding existing staff. they're not necessarily increases or decreases in the number of employees that we have uh districtwide. For example, you'll notice an increase in the curriculum development and
008supervision going from 5 to 7. That's simply the result of moving two staff members, two existing staff members that we have into that code or that line from another budget line. On the flip side, you're going to see a decrease in certain areas such as transportation security. That doesn't necessarily mean that we are reducing positions or funding allocated towards those positions. It could reflect um breakage. It could reflect roles that are currently being filled by substitutes uh which are not considered full-time equivalent. So um they would not count in our overall FTEES for next school year as well. If you have more questions about the specific lines, I certainly can answer those for you. The most significant change appears obviously if you're looking at the difference in our teaching special education and ELLL, which is
009our instructional staff. That's driven by three main factors. First, we're shifting six positions from grant funding into the general fund. So, six FTEEs that are traditionally or or this past school year that have been funded by grants that is being moved into the general fund. So, it's a reallocation of of funding. Um, while it looks like there's an increase in 17 FTEEs, it doesn't necessarily again mean that it is 17 new positions. It's just a shift due to the funding, but not necessarily the new positions. Second, we are recommending nine additional new positions for next school year, which includes five teachers, one school psychologist, and three teaching assistants. Eight of those positions, the teaching the teachers and the teaching assistants would fall into the difference here for next school year. And then the third factor
010that we consider is is budgeting for potential increases in in teacher aids, which is driven by uh student IEPs. So if a student enrolls during the school year and they have an IEP that states that they are entitled to a 1:1 aid, we're obligated to provide that for that service during the middle of of the school year. So during the school year, that is an increase that we have that we may not have budgeted for. If that position remains and the student is still with us the the the following school year, the subsequent school year, the IMP is intact and still recommending the same support service, we now need to budget for those aids for our our student population. So those are the three main factors when you see the the difference in FTEES for
011our staffing. >> Mr. Burgerer, I have some questions on it. >> Um so you said it's not really an increase in staffing, but the total is almost 13 new headcount. Um student population has dropped 4.2% since 2024 and 10% since 2017. So, can you please for the community help the community understand a 13 headcount FTE increase when we have student enrollment going down? >> Sure. And and it's not necessarily 13. Um, again, we have, as I said, we have some teacher aids that are being accounted for based on the special education services and the IEPs that we're providing. So, there are a couple of there. Six of those FTEES are being moved from um from grant funding into the general fund which you have the the remaining eight or so that are new hires. Those
012eight new hires that are included in here. Five of them are teachers. So those include current temporary elementary positions. We have a general education at Central Valley and a special education at Pineree that were added this year due to enrollment increases within that grade level or within the um special education program that we needed to open new sections for. We expect those needs to continue. So, we're recommending those two temporary positions from this year become probationary for next year. That's two of the positions. We're recommending adding a literacy coach and a math coach at the elementary level as well. Uh and then the fifth teaching position would be um we're recommending a JOTC army instructor at the high school. Um you know one one thing to consider with that position is that 50% of the
013salary is reimbursed actually by the army. In addition, it's not necessarily reflected in this budget line, but it is an overall addition to our proposed budget. We are recommending one school psychologist who would primarily serve as a cse chair at the elementary level. So, that is something that's in in line with our other levels. We we currently have a cse chair at the secondary level. We have a CPSC chair at the preschool level. We don't have one at the elementary level. Um so that is a recommendation to be able to provide that support at the elementary level partly and then also to provide some additional counseling support at our elementary level as well. The three teaching assistants were being are being recommended uh one is at the elementary level two is at the high school.
014That's to support consistency and equity amongst our special education programs so that um you know programs are able to have the same offerings of of staff um you know at those varying levels. So that kind of that makes up the additional positions that we're recommending. Um I don't know if that fully answered your question. >> Um six of the positions FTEES are coming from grants. So we're taking money that was covered in grants and we're moving it on to the taxpayer now, right? Cuz that flows through the budget. So there's no more grant monies that are allowed for that. It's taxpayer funded. Correct. So we are we are moving allocated funds based on projections that that we are receiving from the state. I mean obviously um those fluctuate from year to year. Um, you know,
015Patrick could probably speak in a little bit more detail, but the funding that we receive, and that's going to be on another slide. Um, that's from the different titles, >> IDEID, UB, all of those types of funding that we receive, it's going to fluctuate based on, you know, what we receive from the federal government. So, we're kind of proactively and conservatively moving that into the general fund because later on we don't want to be short-handed. um you know, in the event that in order to continue the instructional programs that we want for our students, we want to make sure that we're able to do so. So, we're kind of proactively and yet, you know, conservatively figuring the number that we're going to get from the the federal government um and moving those positions into the
016general fund. >> So, I mean, I understand what you've shared. Um, just still not clear on the headcount increase with a 4.2% reduction in student enrollment in a 2-year time period. So, if we're not prepared to answer it today, that's fine. But I think that if student enrollment continues to decline and we're increasing headcount, those are counterintuitive to each other. I'm not saying that we can't do it, but are there separate programs? Are there other things that are required that these headcount are going to add programs, special classes? Um, I'm just not clear still on that. The >> the only thing, Michael, I would say about the uh the special aid fund, which is what we're talking about with the with the grant, you know, the way we account for grants, it's called the special
017aid fund, the F fund, is there can be some eb and flow with that year in and year out. So there's another slide we're about to look at that shows it's about 37 I think FTEES total that are in the grant and we we also so number one Chris mentioned this the grant amount can change there are rollover amounts so if we don't spend the entire amount in one year we're we're allowed to roll over some of that there's limits on the rollover into the next year so the the grant amounts can fluctuate a little bit what we what our needs are and how we use the money can fluctuate a little bit what and there's different philosophies about how grants should be used. You know, grants in general are supposed to supplement, not supplant
018um your program. So, it's supposed to bolster the program, add to the program, not replace the program. So, there can be an eb and flow. And as Chris mentioned, six FTEEs, and we'll see that, you know, in another slide into the general fund are because of that eb and flow. Um what I would say when you say the taxpayers are paying for it. Um, true, you know, in a way we also receive a lot of state aid in the general fund, so it's not 100% locally funded. Uh, there's funding, you know, through the state. >> Mhm. >> And we've talked about how state aid works. It's supposed to be equalizing. You know, those with low wealth would receive more and high wealth would receive less. So, um, you know, overall that makes up a, you
019know, a good chunk of what you're seeing in terms of the FTE increase. And also though I will I will mention too I mean we do you know especially in the curriculum office we do monitor current enrollments and class sizes and projections very closely. It's something that we meet about and we discuss on a regular basis. Um we base the projections on our current enrollment trends and cohort mo movement and then we monitor them closely and we make adjust adjustments as as needed. sometimes in the middle of the school year like we had to do where we had a couple temporary positions this year and then we're making the the recommendation to make those probationary next year. Um so yes, while we've added some positions tied to the enrollment, we're trying to maintain programs too
020for for our students and give them the best the best opportunity as well in the classroom setting. >> I I understand but that statement is nebulous at best. um you know what programs what's trying to be maintained. So I think it's just a follow-up item. Um >> uh you know because it's a pretty big headcount increase. Um so I just don't I think we need to have a good answer for the community. >> Yeah, we can look into the um the element involving the special aid fund too a little bit more and provide more info on that. >> Okay. >> All right. Um just in the interest of time since we have two presentations tonight um let Mr. Ber and Mr. Cahill get through these and if there is additional questions cuz they indicated that
021some of the additional slides may explain some of the uh questions that that come up. So if we could save questions to the end maybe um we'll let them get through. >> Thank you. >> Sounds good to me. >> All right. The next slide is the special aid fund FTE summary. This is showing you the amount of FTEES that represent what again what we're projecting to be covered by grant funding based on the title IDEIDA and UPK grants that we receive from both the federal and state government. So this year for this upcoming school year we are projecting that 37 total FTEES will be covered by these allocations of the title grants um idea funds that we receive. You know it's a very minimal amount that we received from UPK as well but all of
022those tied in will cover as of right now 37 total FTEES for next school year. staff salaries. The majority of the salary increases are driven by contractual obligations within our collective bargaining agreements. Overall, the rate of increase has actually slightly decreased from last year. Last year was at 3.53% to this year is at 3.24%. Um and that does factor in the additions that we spoke to before. So again, the majority of the salary increases are slightly, you know, decreasing from from last year, the overall percentage. And then if you have specific questions about any of these and you want me to go back afterwards, I'm happy to to go over them. The staff salaries pie chart. This chart shows that the vast majority of our personnel budget, which is just over 82%, is allocated towards
023our instructional staff. That's consistent with last year. Last year was at 82.44%. So about the same and again it reflects our focus on supporting classroom instruction and supporting our students. Employee benefits So the employee benefits overall are increasing by 5.9% which is primarily driven by a blended 7% increase in health insurance premiums for the OU health insurance plan. Um our health insurance contributions are are made up of active employees health insurance retirees and also there's Medicare in there as well that we're paying. Um, so you see the the vast majority of the difference, the big chunk is being spent on health insurance. Overall, there's a change of 5.9% increase. And again, I'm happy to go back and answer any specific questions on on this slide as well. You see the corresponding pie chart here which
024shows the allocation of dollars being spent on employee benefits with health insurance accounting for the largest share just under 57%. >> I have a quick question. The the increase is this just the premium increases or this is a change in the type of the health insurance and the benefits covered? No. >> No. Um and and Patrick may be able to he's interest but it's mostly due to the 7% premium increase. >> Yeah. And and the 7% Chris said a it's a blended increase because there are different types of coverage. There's single family >> family two family, three family and more than six is a new category. So there's different rates. There's different rates actually for the retirees as well. Uh but in the aggregate the overall increase is 7%. So depending on our composition of
025active and retirees and how which categories they they fall into for coverage that rate can be little less or a little more than seven. So the key takeaways that you should take from this is ultimately this budget is centered on one core goal which is providing all of our students with a highquality education. We've done that by strategically adding and reallocating instructional staff to meet our students needs while also planning ahead for areas like enrollment, special education, potential changes in funding that may come down from the federal government. And at the same time, um, you know, we believe that we've remained focused on fiscal responsibility, making thoughtful and measured decisions, and always considering the impact on our taxpayers while providing an excellent education and opportunity for our kids and community. Any questions going back to
026any of the slides or things that you would like me to elaborate on? >> I have one question. The reduction of one security, why is that? So that is directly tied to um the position this year was a full-time safety officer. It was filled with a substitute. It's a full-time substitute but technically considered a substitute. And because it's we rehired the position with a substitute, that person will remain in it. So it doesn't count for an FTE. Um so there's it looks like a reduction, but it's the same number of staff. It's just not a full-time security. It's it's coded as a safe as a substitute safety officer. >> So it's still person in the body, still time doing the same thing, just how we code it. >> And if you look at the budget
027reports that actually show the codes in the money, there's an increase in the code that deals with subs. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> I don't have any other questions right now, just the follow-ups that I've asked for before. >> And I did look at the presentation ahead of time, so that's why I knew what was coming. and you had opened up the floor to questions if we had any on the item. So that's why I asked them when I did. >> Happy to answer them to the best of my ability. So >> now or follow up, you let me know and I can get back to you with with the information needed. >> Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you very much. Our next presentation is an update on district goals um by Superintendent Dr.
028Tracy Norman, um Dr. Eric Hassler, and Dr. Karen Morales, Patrick, Dr. Vias, and Chris Burgerer. Yes. Okay, good evening everyone. We're going to give you an update on our district goals and we'll just go through each goal and each assistant superintendent will present you their department and at the end I'll just kind of summarize where we are. Dr. Hassler, you want to go through the goals or we these are our district goals. Next slide. Next slide. >> All right, >> Dr. Hassler. >> So, the district goals continue to, you know, they remain consistent from the the update that we provided in December. Um, goal one, creating conditions to increase students understanding and application of academic content, is really broken down into a series of um, action steps uh, and tasks. And so Karen and I
029will both go through each of the various tasks and talk about the actions that have taken place since December. The first portion of that is to review and monitor student attendance and performance uh, to increase student outcomes. uh even though it says that we were at 50% in December and 75% that 75% completion is only our completion for the current school year where we monitor student um achievement data on an ongoing basis. That's not only state standardized assessments that includes benchmark and common assessments that are administered on an annual basis. We are at 75% completion for the school year. However, that will go back to the beginning and that process will continue into next school year where we'll start from the beginning again in September. So, that 75% completion is just for this year's worth
030of work. >> So, our next action, go ahead. >> Our next action item was our curriculum council and you'll see our updated notes since then was that we've transitioned to more targeted small group work that initi was initiated in January. We are in process of scheduling our learning walks. I will say that our weather and snow days have not necessarily helped us in scheduling this and we want to ensure that it as it is as stress-free for our teachers. Um so that is our next step which will help us with our vertical articulation and really bolstering our opportunity to inform the daily instructional opportunities within the classrooms. And so the third task is the curriculum alignment to state and national standards. Similar to my comments regarding the first task, um we're about 75% completion for
031the school year. However, uh curriculum review and alignment occurs on an annual basis. So we're 75% through the work that we've identified for the course of this school year. However, in September, um that work is going to continue and roll over into the 2627 school year. Our next sorry our next goal centers around the revision of our MTSS plan. So since our prior meeting uh quite a bit of work has actually taken place for this goal. We've had our second district-wide meeting in February. All building level MTSS teams have been formed. We are in process of implementing somewhat on a trial basis a a kindergarten and first grade data collection tool and we are working collaboratively to create a second through fifth grade tool as well. The math assessment alignment work has been initiated through
032both the elementary math committee which has been reconvened as well as with the secondary math department. our PBIS teams. While while Pinre's team has been solidly in place, teams are now identified and formed in all of our other buildings with a first broad uh training scheduled for May. We are looking at a trial. STAR is our benchmark assessment. We are looking at a trial of the curriculum based measures that come within that program for all of our tier three students in grades K through 8. And during this whole process, we are updating and revising any of the documentation, paperwork, and framework that supports the MTSS revision. Very similar to the work that's happening regarding MTSS, we're also conducting a review of our district special education plan. Um, you may recall we developed a committee in
033the fall. The committee had uh a full committee meeting uh to kind of establish and review the status of our our special education plan at the time. They then broke off into small groups representing our three directors, elementary, secondary, and pupil personnel services. Since working in small groups, the the three directors have been working on updating the plan through the winter. That updated plan has since been shared with the entire committee. The committee is in the process of reviewing the plan. We will be reconvening the entire committee this spring to finalize the plan to share it with the board of education for approval for the 2627 school year. So currently we're about 2/ird of the way through our work in that. Any questions for our portion? I I have one question. I just um as
034we kind of move into the year end I think it would be really helpful for the next time we talk about these goals to understand some of the impact. So the curriculum council I understand a lot of this is creating the conditions right but the end goal is understanding and application of the academic content. So even if there's some output of the curriculum council or there's some metric that we can talk about that would support some of the structure you've put in place it would be really helpful for for your end. >> Sure. >> Thank you. Okay. Code number two, Mr. Chris Burgerer. All right. Good evening. Once again, I'm going to provide a brief update on goal number two, which is to develop and maintain systems that focus on recruitment and retention of effective
035educators and support staff. So, the first action step was to develop a task force to analyze recruitment gaps. That's been ongoing since the beginning of the school year. One of our key areas of focus has been analyzing recruitment gaps, particularly in those hard to fill positions and in diversifying our applicant pool. We're continuing to refine our recruitment strategies. We've been doing things through job fairs, college partnerships. A lot of these are intertwined that you'll see with the other action steps, but social media outreach, recruitment videos, targeted incentives, um, while also using data such as applicant trends. We look at turnover and exit feedback really to guide our work and our recruitment uh, practices. The second action step is to continue partnerships with local colleges. This too is ongoing. We've strengthened several college partnerships to build
036long-term hiring pipelines. You see some colleges and universities listed there specifically with Mount St. Mary, Sunni, News, Manhattanville, LIU. Those have been some partnerships that we have established and continue to work on throughout the year. Um, offering programs for our existing staff such as teacher aids that allows them to get their teaching certifications in certain areas if they wish to pursue. Um, we have an admin cohort that is just about ready to receive their administrative degrees through Sunni Newulse that was housed actually at the Monroe Woodbury High School. We have a new admin cohort that's starting through Manhattanville and through our partnerships all of these have been at a discounted rate. um LIU, we have a teaching assistant to to teacher program for our teaching assistants if they want to become certified in some of
037those hard to fill positions such as special education, um ENL and so forth. And again, at all at a discounted rate. The third action step is to attend job fairs. These are great because it gives us kind of an opportunity to showcase our district strengths. Um how we provide professional support, competitive pay, the positive culture that we provide here at Monroe Woodbury. The first one earlier this month, the HR team and I along with some of the staff members from food services and transportation represented the district at the Monroe Free Library. Um this was to pro proactively address some staffing shortages in areas such as bus drivers, food service workers, teacher aids, substitute positions, and it certainly proved to be a very successful day of of networking. We have upcoming next week on March 25th,
038we're we are um we will be at the Mid Hudson Regional Teacher Recruitment Day which is held out of Sunni News. And this was pretty unique because we were able to first analyze this year's anticipated resignations, any retirements, overall recruitment gaps, and based on that, we coordinated with Sunni new to clearly define our hiring needs. And it allowed us to pre-screen submitted resumeés through this process and then to align candidates with our high priority certification areas. And then we have scheduled a full day's worth of 36 interviews that directly match with our upcoming vacancies. So hopefully we'll find some great potential candidates through that. And then the last one listed on here, this is kind of a fun one, is the Monro Woodbury High School job fair on April 21st. This event really just gives
039us an opportunity to connect with our existing students uh before they graduate high school and help them learn about things that we can offer here in the school district, whether it's part-time jobs in the near future, internships, um future career opportunities, and it gives us an opportunity to really give back and work with our our current student population. The last one on this slide is the to update and implement interviewing protocols. So we are in the final draft phase of developing our updated hiring manual. We've consolidated the original 70 plus page manual that was written you know about 10 years ago into something that is much more userfriendly um without removing any of the content or procedures. However, it is now digitalized. It includes standardized guidelines, recruitment procedures, interview protocols, evaluation tools, required forms that
040they'll need to fill out, and you know, very important embedded resource links that will highlight best practices that's aligned with education law, labor law, civil service requirements, and so forth. At this point, the cabinet is reviewing the final draft and once it's approved by the superintendent, I'm going to schedule a meeting with the principles, the directors, the administrators, and then a separate training with the clerical staff as far as the implementation goes and to go over these procedures. And then from that point, we would like to pilot the new hiring procedures for the end of this school year. That way we can kind of gather feedback from the users, the administrators, the clerical members, and make any small tweaks that we need to before the full implementation is rolled out starting July 1st of next
041school year. But we're in very good shape there. The last three action steps for me, uh, we have the training and which involves professional learning and development. Again, this is also ongoing uh ongoing as previously shared in the winter. Uh the HR office has collaborated with a lot of the non-instructional departments to design targeted professional learning opportunities for all staff including clerical, food services, custodial, safety, finance personnel, and so forth. These sessions were carefully aligned to the department needs and we rely on the departments to to tell us um certain areas. So if the clerical team says, "Well, we'd like some u practices in AI tools, how it can better support us in our role of clerical," we'll work with the MCC and we'll put together some trainings for them. Then we like anything else
042gather the participant feedback which guides our future future planning throughout the year and some specific dates for superintendent conference days. one coming up at the end of this week uh and then we have another one in May as well. But the professional learning should be designed so that it's ongoing throughout the year um and and to meet the needs of of our staff mentoring. So this we've continued this year to enhance the mentoring programs to support staff de development and ultimately retention. We've further developed the administrator mentoring program to support the professional growth of our district leaders. This is where our non-tenured administrators are placed into groups. They've been meeting with cabinet members since the beginning of the school year to focus on theme topics that are being presented and also just to you know
043help navigate situations that arise in the building level or within departments. We've also continued to review the teacher mentoring program uh with Dr. Morales and making sure that we're providing those extended mentorship for our newly hired and and non-tenured instructional staff um again as needed. And lastly, to monitor salaries, we're continuing to monitor and and benchmark salaries across and against neighboring districts and statewide for that matter to make sure that we remain competitive. And then we take that information and make adjustments if necessary. This year we have adjusted our substitute rates based on our analysis in a couple of different areas with food service transportation for bus drivers. Uh safety aids was was recently changed as well. Um again these efforts kind of they support the overall goal of recruitment and retention of of high
044quality staff. Any questions for me? >> I just have a question. So the colleges is it limited to those fours that you put up there? >> No, those those programs are specifically that we've designed programs for our staff to participate in with dis discounted tuition rates, but we partner with other colleges obviously to just increase the the pipeline of of new teachers and the recruitment of staff. So, you know, Oni is known for, you know, their their tech department. And so we work with them so that we're able to hopefully secure teachers within that position directly from the school through student teaching and you know then they become familiar with our district and our and our practices and we try to secure them early you know assuming that they're doing a good job. >> Right.
045So for the would you say then for the so the community the community understands and you're being strategic on the universities you're reaching out to because they're a pipeline to the real Woodberry. It's just not simply >> certification needs. Yes. >> Right. Like I just want to make sure that the community understands that there is strategic impact and thought put into that. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any other questions? All right. Thank you. >> Goal number three, Dr. Vas. >> Good evening. B up. So the goal three is build a resilient cyber security framework for a safe and secure learning environment. Uh we have done some good work in in this area. Last year was our first year of first six control. This year is our second year of year three.
046Uh we reviewed uh the control set of 7 to 12 that has about 48 subcontrols. I'm happy to share that there is no significant finding even in this one. We have a draft report uh from the external auditors um and we are waiting for uh the audit committee go through the process and we'll be ready to take the next step. Um that work is even though it says 90% there is never uh there is never 100% in that area. It's a constant ongoing work for us. Maintain the disaster recovery and incident response plan. Um based on what's happening local um national international this is an ongoing process for us. We continue to take what is the threat threat assessment looks like and modify it, learn from what's happening outside and maintain our disaster recovery and
047incident respond in incident response plan and adapt to that. Again, it's even though it's it's 100% completed for this year, it's a ongoing process. If we learn something that is not the norm, we go in and then modify and and prepare ourselves to to mitigate the threat or be ready for that incident. Professional learning. Uh this is another area um that is always ongoing. Um as we learn the new techniques of not so good side of technology. We continue to enhance our awareness, our training, our best practices by the way of doing some tabletop exercise and then trying to understand and and learn more about the incident command system and then putting in place of pieces of the ICS together. So then we are more prepared to respond to any specific incident that come across
048our way. Any question on that goal before I jump to the next one? So goal four is develop a comprehensive instructional technology plan. This is a positive side of technology. Um we continue to work with our robust technology committee. Uh it's made up of a variety of different stakeholders. We have a draft plan uh that is being reviewed internally for a different state with the different stakeholders. Um and and ultimately once everybody is on the same page with their suggestions and corrections, our next step will be submit this plan to the New York State through our local BOSE and Rick for their uh approval and then it will be in effect starting July 1st next year. Um audit existing infrastructure and device and digital resources. This was kind of a prerequisite for us to review
049first when we started working over our uh instructional technology plan. Um and it has given us some some good insights of what do we have, how do we use it that allows us to take the the specific goals as the instructional technology plan goals. And the last one is to continuously um ongoing professional development for for our educators and effective technology integration. We continue to to to innovate how we offering our professional development to not only the instructional staff but also the non-instructional staff as well. um what is the AI looks like for our non-instructional staff as well as the in uh what is the integration of AI looks like for our instructional staff um we have a professional development day this week and one in May uh and we continue to enhance that portfolio
050of offerings um along that line we also have uh instituted the technology tip of the month this year it's a quick 15 minutes uh Google meet uh that allows us to bring the team together and learn from each other same thing with the educational technology time that we publish once a Any question on that? >> In terms of the AI integration on the other side of it, um I know that there are is use of AI in terms of our students. Is there any technology that we're implementing to give teachers the tools to know that what they're getting submitted in terms of work product from the students aren't AI generated? Keeping everyone honest in that aspect. So it's a it's a very good question. Now as AI is continuously evolving there is not a significant
051tool or two out there because the minute they find it they actually figure it out how to continuously enhance it. Our approach is to go through the education route of what does the AI generated work looks like versus what is the work that is produced by Bargo knowing Bargo as a student in in in a six or eight months of the school year. So it's not a specific about tool, it's about learning the concept and implementing that as a part of the integration in technology. >> Some of the some of the universities have actually submitting >> speaking work. >> Some of the universities have implemented submitting your high school essays. When you submit your college essay, they would ask you for your high school essays. they can compare your writing styles >> and figure out
052whether you have used AI generated essays. >> It's also classroom best practice. Again, um our teachers know the student work from September till now. And is there a growth or is this growth fueled by the AI tool >> and also there's ondemand writing. >> Yes, good point. >> All right. And one one quick question for you. So in regard to your your DR plan, is that something that all the administrators have a copy of or just specific >> sales people? >> We we have a copy specific to the specific contend with the specific people. However, overarching understanding is what happens in that process. This is actually one area that we need to do a little bit more work uh of enhancing our understanding and work with our internal administrator of what does that mean to
053us? Good question. It's it's actually part of the recommendation uh from Dr. Norman in my six months evaluation. We got too much PII out there. Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank >> Okay, this is goal number five, our strategic plan. So, I'll focus you to the left in the task column. Um we've been doing this work to the left all year. And I want to thank the board for being a part of this work, particularly um our members that serve on this committee, Mr. Reynolds and our board of ed president, you know, Miss Simmons. So the focus for the first half of the year was to basically collect feedback from all of our stakeholders that make up our community. And we wanted to do this in multiple forms and we partnered with Generation Ready to
054get this work done. So what you're looking at is 100% complete, meaning that we form small group forums, community sessions, and we heard from all the stakeholders that make up our community, students, non-instructional, instructional staff, uh, parents, community members, so on and so forth. We have heard from over 4,000 people that make up our community. And I have to say uh some of the feedback or data that we collected was humbling. But the next phase of that was to make meaning of the data. So that's where generation ready came in and they have done a phenomenal job of collecting this data and more importantly telling us what it means. So next slide. So the next phase of this is now to create goals. So now that we've collected data, we understand what it means. The
055logical step is to try and affect it through a five-year plan. So while we're just starting this, we have moved some. Just this week we started meeting in small groups looking at this data unpacking it and some of our focus areas or our special areas are are forming goals which would probably put us at about 50% and we expect that to change over the next u over the next month and that bottom task obviously we haven't published the plan yet so we haven't had um you know any movement in terms of publishing it but I do feel that by the end of the year we will be able to bring forth to the community a plan that spells out five-year goals. I also want to add that I think this is um an area where
056we do need to do a presentation to the board and the public separately strictly about the uh strategic plan. I've spoken with generation ready. So I like for them to come and just kind of unpack this so that uh we have a good understanding even though we're talking about it here. It's just just brief, but so hopefully uh we can get that on the calendar at some point later later in the spring. >> Questions? >> Yes. Um it's it's more of just an observation when I had read it um outside of the meeting. Um it says surveys to be distributed in January 2026, community sessions to be held in January 2026. Just the language is confusing because I don't know if it was done in um in that area. Obviously, it did say conducted small
057groups with that above that, but it says fall of 2025. Um and then action on the other goal five, it says to be completed once survey results. So, it's 50% there. So, I I think just the note in those action items might just for clarification purposes. I was a little confused when I read it outside of the meeting. Yes, it did happen uh in that order. If you go back, Barb, I'm sorry. Yeah, it did happen. We did do those things in January and we did do that work. You're in the fall of 2025, but the wording I see your point could be confusing. Um yes, next slide. And at 50%, you know, it's kind of hit or miss. is not uh exact, but we have started working on the goals. >> Mhm. >> But
058>> yeah, I'm not I'm not concerned about the um percentages. I think there's been great headway along all the plans. So, uh it was just the wording here was a little bit confusing for me, >> but I thank you. >> Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. >> Go number six, Mr. Patrick Gill. Okay. Goal number six uh concerned coordinating, planning, and executing our district-wide uh multi-year capital program and facilities management projects. And uh the first task is uh dealing with phase one of the project. And I I say the project, we've talked about the project is two authorizations uh in 2023 and 2025. And the uh the project is really uh categorized or organized into four phases. So phase one had to do with boiler replacements at Smith Clove, the high school uh addition of security
059vestibules and renovation of the education center. So um we are in the punch list phase which means the construction the design phase the construction phase is essentially over. Uh we went from 50% December to 60%, not a huge increase, moved the needle a little bit, but a lot of the punch list stuff or some of it will be done spring break. And and so once those punch list items are dealt with, uh the the rest the filing with SED, I've talked about that, the substantial completion filing and the um FCR's final cost report, really important filing with SED because that drives state aid, that stuff will go very quickly. Tonight on the agenda, we had um substantial completion for the Central Valley security vestibule documentation. So, you'll approve that tonight. Once that's done, we can
060do that final cross report that will be closed out and state aid would would then begin or be eligible to to flow. Um, next uh task is the uh public relations component of the project. Uh again, we went from 50% to 70%. we're we're now ready with some posters and some uh you know things that will go in the lobbies etc. Um took a little time, you know, there's different differing opinions um on the artistic element, but you know, at the end of the day, we want the information out there. We want people to just be aware of the project and what's happening with the project. Uh continuation of goal number six. So um task the next task is monitoring and supporting the program overall including the implementation of implementation of phase two. So phase
061two is largely about work uh at Pineree and we've talked about that a lot and the uh reconstruction of the tennis court. So the design works complete the bids and the awards are complete the you know awarding bids to contractors. We we did that at a a previous board meeting. Construction has started on the tennis courts and work will begin at Pineree over spring break. So we went from 25 to 50%. Um you know this will I have winter and spring. This will spill into uh the next fiscal year because we anticipate the phase 2 work to largely occur over the summer. Uh next task was finalizing the capital project financing and debt issuance. So we went from 25% to 40%. We're not quite there. Been working with our fiscal adviser on um a plan.
062We have a little time because we're currently financing the project with our capital reserves. Um and but we will have that worked out I would say uh this spring for sure. So continuing with goal number six, coordinate, execute the renovation of the education center. So that is ongoing. We it is is uh the construction is largely complete. We went from 50% to 75% complete. Um the uh roof has been replaced. The windows have been replaced. The repointing which is repairing the brick exterior has been completed. Uh we had a little setback where we had a fire uh caused by the construction and that is where we are now. Reconstruction of two offices that were damaged by the fire. We've also done work uh in the auditorium uh which has come out really great. You know,
063the the meeting room for the board. Uh we've done some new flooring. We've made some other uh upgrades to the building as well. So, uh we will, I would say, be done by the end of the fiscal year. Uh districtwide installation of classroom uh window air conditioners. So, that is 100% complete. Uh looking forward to that uh this spring when uh the temperatures get warmer. uh develop final feasibility study and plan for implementation of zero mission buses. So uh we have gone from 50 to 90%, we have our draft report. There are a few things we need to bring back and clarify with our architects. I had mentioned some of these at previous meetings, some of these issues that is um so we are nearly 100% on that. Any questions at this point? >> Um
064I don't have a question per se. I just um the jargon that's used, you know, FCR and TPG and if we could especially for the public consumption. Um I don't remember what an FCR was. >> Absolutely. Michael, great point. I'm sorry. I and I I >> it's a finance. >> I get annoyed with the acronyms, too. I like to explain what they are. Uh sorry about that. >> That that was it. Otherwise, I had nothing. >> All right. Okay. Goal number seven um largely has to do with um fiscal stewardship. uh financial resources. Um so you know the the major primary task here was increasing the number of internal audits that the district conducts. Um we were doing one annual audit annually and and the the internal audit is a little different than the external
065audit. We have really three auditors. We have an external audit which is our financial statements uh which are looked at typically in the summer. We have an internal auditor uh who reviews the does a risk assessment of the district every year and then looks into a focus area, picks a focus area. Uh and that's what I'm talking about here. So, we're we're going to we're doing three internal audits this year. Um we worked with the audit committee. We picked the three areas of focus and they're here. There here there I go again with an acronym PPS, pupil personnel services, ECF extra classroom fund. So that's the the the student funds at the high school, middle school and governance and planning has to do with the board governance uh etc. So we're 20 we were 25%
066complete. We're now 50. Those audits are underway uh and moving along. Continuing goal number seven. Uh this one has to do with the the development of the budget. So um as of December we were 15% complete. We're now I'll say 85% complete. We've gone through the process. We heard from Mr. Burgerer tonight about the uh you know the staffing and benefits. Uh so we're nearly there. I sent the board a board Graham uh that kind of laid out some of the other um you know assumptions and recommendations that we have in the budget. Um so that will definitely be wrapped up soon. And finally goal number eight uh has to do with safety and security. Um so task one was continuation of the protocol development with distribution of information to staff. So we've been working
067on it's been an ongoing thing. Been working with uh Mr. Trapoto on that director of safety security. So we have developed the vest vestibule procedures. We were 25% in December. We're now at 80%. We've rolled that out. Um we have you know I think pretty uniform procedures now everywhere which is which is great. Uniformity, consistency is what we're striving for. Uh implementation of the new remote panic alarm system. So again, Mr. Chapoto, Dr. Viaz have been working on this. This is the Cintic uh remote panic alarm system. So we were at 25% in December. I would say I would estimate we're at 75% now. We're in the testing phase of that. Uh we will move from testing. I I understand there's a few little integration issues which have cropped up um but we are moving
068along with that and um and we will have that I think fully operational by the end of the year. Um and finally uh we had a pilot program here at the high school uh where we uh procured go bags um lockown kits for the classrooms and um so we were 75% complete in December and we're we're at 100 now. So that's a a pilot. We, you know, something that it's it's a best practice. It's recommended in the realm of safety security. So we may start to roll that out districtwide. >> I have a question on that last item. Um it says 100% complete, but it says awaiting final items. So that gives me an indication as open items. >> I I would say that is uh a typo, Michael. Okay. It should be updated. I
069I hadn't I didn't really change the you know the the action items the the narrative and I should have taken that off. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So in conclusion I want to highlight uh just just two things. Uh the first is that these these goals are are global. So there are many things happening in our district that's uh that's not spoken about or highlighted today. Lots of great work uh that's taking place. Can you go back to slap five please? Goal five. Stop. Stop back. Yeah. The the other thing I want to point out is that if you look at the task where we're refining long and short-term goals, uh these will be the D district goals for next year. We have u work being done and we're developing goals and
070different from this year is that we have two different sets of goals. But once we reach the point where we have strategic goals, they will become the district goals obviously with the with the board's approval, but we have the committees in place and we're doing this work now. Um, and everybody's represented. We have board members sitting there, cabinet members, teachers, administrators, so on and so forth. So, I want to point those two things out. Now, back to Den. So, subject to your questions, this uh concludes our presentation. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you to everyone for those presentations and we'll continue the meeting. Motion to approve the March 4th meeting minutes. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Motion so carries. Motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.5. >>
071Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. Reports by board of education committees audit committee trustee Seriel. >> Um we had to reschedu our planned meeting. Uh Patrick, do you know we don't have a confirmed date yet, do we? >> Uh we do not. No. So, I'll have an update at the next meeting. >> Thank you. Uh, policy meeting, Vice President Donahghue. >> Yeah. Uh, we have not met since our last board meeting. Our next meeting is on the 27th of March at 4 p.m. at the Haramman Center. And as always, excuse me, as always, these meetings are open to the public. >> Thank you. Visitation Committee and Capital Project Task Force. Trustee Reynolds. >> Uh Capital Project, no update since the last meeting. And our next meeting for visitation
072is 13th April. We'll be visiting the great school of Sapphire. Um walking through and enjoying all the fun things there. >> Thank you so much. And report by student representative Miss Isabore. >> Hi, good evening. Happy Wednesday. The last visitation I had was at Smith Club Elementary last week, Wednesday, March 11th, and I had a great group group of kids that answered all my questions. So, starting off, they really liked Reese's time, especially that day I came last week because that was like the two days it was really nice out, so they got so they were super excited to go and play. Uh, most of the kids liked writing and reading while a couple of them like math. uh they said that they wanted more time in the morning to play with their toys and
073because of that they really liked two-hour delays. They all each and every one of them loved gym class and loved playing the games that gym had. They also really liked talking to each other and a lot of students already there were already friends with one another. So that's great to see. Um a couple of the students told me that they really like to draw and wanted more time in class to draw and paint. Most of the students said that they wish that they could talk to their teachers about more things besides if anything bad happens or if anyone gets hurt. But all in all, just more instances to be able to talk to your teachers about other subjects. Um, a student said that their teacher really cares about anyone if they get hurt. And a
074student said that they don't like doing any of the stuff that they don't like to do. Um, I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. And I got answers of a cop, a fashion designer, a YouTuber, a sloth, a scientist, a singer and dancer, a teacher, another scientist, but to make Pokémon real, a rocket scientist, and someone said everything all at once. One sad or uncomfortable, they said that they talked to each other, their parents or their teachers. A student said that they wish that everyone could have a best friend, like their own best friend, which I thought was really kind. Um, another student wished for a camera, robots, a pool in the school to do flips underwater, and a unicorn. Many of the students really, really, really wanted pickles for
075some reason. Like, all in all, they all were like so excited for pickles. I don't. Um, another student said that they also wanted beef jerky that never stops growing. Someone wished for a big closet with costumes that everyone could dress up in, even teachers. Another did ask for a Nintendo Switch, a PS5, but another way to see their friends even outside of school, like birthday parties. Lastly, they all really like to go to the library and read books there. I had a great time with the students. They were very very energetic and excited. So, thank you so much for Dr. All for having me and making me feel so very welcome. Uh my ve next my next visit will be at Central Valley next week, Wednesday, March 25th. So, thank you everyone and have a
076wonderful rest of your week. Thank you as always for the insightful presentation. On to personnel. Is there a motion to approve personnel items 12.1 through 12.15? >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. >> Business and financials. Is there a motion to approve business and financial items 13.1 through 13.6? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? Motion so carries. Committees on special education and preschool education. Is there a motion to approve items 14.1 through 14.5? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion so carries. Reports by board and central office. Mr. Bolina starting with you today. >> Oh. Um uh thank you for putting me on the spot right away. Um, thank you to everybody for your presentation tonight. Um, it's very enlightening to see what all
077of you do all day and the hard work you put in for the the students to make sure that they have the resources they need, the the staff they need and to make sure that we are here to support each other. So, thank you for that. Thank you, Zoe, for all the information you always give us. So, um, yeah, and have a great rest of the day. >> Thank you, Dr. Hassler. >> So, you may recall that we had established a goal through our district leadership committee this year to support emotional wellness specifically regarding social media and technology use as we sort of rolled out this distractive free learning environment initiative over the course of the year. In addition to a variety of presentations and assemblies that we've done for parents, we developed a book
078club to discuss Jonathan Hate's Anxious Generation. This past Monday evening, we had the second session of the book club with what I had what I thought was great conversation. Uh there are two sessions remaining. So if anybody's interested in participating, feel free to send me an email. It's not too late to join. Uh second, thank you to the middle school for hosting. Uh in the spirit of your random acts of kindness mural that was unveiled uh before the meeting this evening, I attended the St. Patrick's Day bingo at Valley View Nursing Home this past weekend and it was attended by a bunch of our high school Interact students who were there volunteering and it just further showed me that you can go just about anywhere in this region and students from our school district are
079doing just absolutely amazing amazing things. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening once again. Uh, thank you to the middle school for hosting us this evening. The mural looks incredible. Um, I love to see the the vibrant colors and the fact that the students were involved in it um is it was a great touch and it's brightens up the hallways for sure. I also want to acknowledge the exceptional guidance department at the middle school and the uh building administrators that we have here at the middle school for hosting a fantastic middle school career fair um this past week or so. But it was it was incredible and it's it's great to see that every year it expands and becomes bigger and bigger and with more and more vendors
080for you know our students to be engaged and ask career oriented questions. It was a fantastic morning. So great job to the middle school team. As always I'd like to congratulate and welcome to the district our new hires. We did have a number of leave replacements that were approved tonight. I also want to congratulate the retirees that they're with their upcoming uh retirements that were approved tonight as well and just thank them as always for their service and dedication to our district over the years. And lastly, just want to wish good luck to our high school drama club on their upcoming performance this weekend. Have a great evening. >> Thank you, uh, Miss Novak. Um, a huge thank you to the middle school for hosting us tonight and for hosting an incredible career fair. It
081was really fun. Um, thank you to the presenters and the mural is inspiring and incredible. I'm glad I got to see it tonight. Have a good night everyone. >> Mr. Reynolds, >> uh, yes, the the mural is amazing. So, well done on all that. Um again I'd like to highlight the JOTC program that the team here has uh worked hard to get quickly which I greatly appreciate as it gives opportunities to our students at Maro Woodbury at the end of the day I feel is the main goal. So thank you. Have a great night. >> Thank you Dr. Morales. >> Good evening. I just wanted to take a moment and provide some updates after Zoe's report from North Main. So, a few things that I can say we've definitely made some progress on. I think
082our students will be happy to hear that. Smiley fries, crispy chicken, and dumplings will reappear on the menu. Um, and as well, uh, Mr. Davis and, uh, Miss Greenblat will be working out a system to allow students to provide more feedback. So, uh, that will be forthcoming. The next area, they're they're right. The soccer goals were removed when the field goals were put in. Uh Mr. Davis and I spoke with Mr. Wilson and two soccer goals are going to be delivered shortly back to the North Main lower field. Uh the other one they there was discussion about more time to be outdoors. So, conversations have been started about the possibility of securing additional furniture that would allow for their courtyard to become more of an uh instructional space outdoors. And then finally, um as far
083as the water bottles, you we we can't necessarily change that there is a charge for the water that's purchased from the cafeteria. However, um there are there are fountains that students can refill their bottle. And again, similar to what's happened in other buildings, if students do need a re reusable water bottle, they uh they can go to the main office and they'll be helped there with with water bottles. Um, as far as everything else, duly noted, some of those we can make progress on. I'm very nervous about the Smith Clove. I don't know that I can deliver the unicorn. Um, but that's where we are for now. So, I just wanted to update on that. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. >> Thank you, Dr. provide us. >> Thank you
084middle school for hosting hosting us and mural eighth grade students you are awesome with that um really vibrant colorful just brightens the whole hallway and the entire middle school. Um and big shout out to middle school uh students, teachers and administrator for a successful career day. I wish I would be that kid walking around in my sixth, seventh or eighth grade. Maybe have different career choice. Good night everyone. >> Mr. Serella. >> Um, I want to thank the middle school for hosting cuz I know there is work that goes into this and it's not a little bit of work to get us up here. Um, I also want to thank for the budget presentations. Um, my six years on the board, this has been the best budget presentation season that I participated in. So, I
085really appreciate that. Um, I also appreciated the updates on the goals, the the movement on the goals, the percentages last time and this time really gives a perspective. So, thank you for putting that in. Um, I also want to wish the high school theater and and I say this because I was told I have to say this break they break a leg on the Spongebob show cuz that is what you use in the theater vernacular. >> Otherwise, if you say something different, it actually they think has the opposite effect. So, um, so it's important to make sure you use their vernacular properly. So, I hope they have excellent turnout this weekend and thank you and have a good night. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. Cahill. >> So, I I just like to echo what others
086have said and also like to thank my colleagues for the, uh, work in the budget development process. We're almost there. 85% is what I had on board. Uh, and with that, I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thank you, >> Dr. Ko. Um, great to be back in middle school and um, definitely appreciate the effort that was uh, put into the presentations tonight. Very informative. Um, and have a great night. >> Zoe, >> thank you so much for the middle school for having us. That mural was wonderful. Also, another shout out to the middle school's theater department. Their showing of Interwoods Jr. was phenomenal. I loved it. The set was great. The acting was great. The delivery, the ensemble, it was beautiful. It was amazing. I also encourage everyone to pop out to the high
087school for Spongebob the musical this weekend before this meeting. I actually just came from a very long rehearsal. So, I highly encourage you guys to come and show up. Thank you. Have a great evening. >> Thank you, Vice President Donahghue. >> Thank you to the middle school for hosting us. The mural, there can't be said enough said about how awesome it is. It's really beautiful. Um, I'd also like to congratulate our retirees and our new hires and thank everyone for their presentations this evening. I saw Into the Woods and I saw Finding Nemo Junior. Both were incredible. >> The talent in this district is amazing and I can't wait to see the High School Musical this weekend. Dr. Norman, >> good evening. I echo all the comments that have been said uh tonight. I want
088to um begin by acknowledging all of our families and staff, particularly those in the uh tree community who was impacted most by the storm. I appreciate your understanding and flexibility. I know it's been hard this year and parents make plans and um having to change them at the last minute. So, I really appreciate your um prioritizing with safety first and understanding that. Just a reminder, schools are closed uh next Friday, March 20th, and also looking ahead March 30th through Friday, April 3rd for spring break. I want to uh just say best of luck to the middle school Odyssey of the mind team led by coach Mcernney and coach Rivera who will be complete competing at the state competition on March 21st in Syracuse. Good luck to you. Uh lastly, tomorrow I will be conducting my
089super sub at the middle school for the eighth grade class. I'll be subbing for Stephanie Armo. Hopefully, uh, this young lady gets to take a break and just take a breather for an hour or two. The class that we'll be, uh, that I'll be subbing for is going to talk about, um, the Holocaust and resilience. So, looking forward to that and making a difference u with our children. Thank you and good evening. >> Thank you. Uh, just a reminder, the board of education is seeking a member of the Monroe Woodbury High School class of 2027 to serve as the student representative for the 2026 and 2027 school year. In this role, the student representative serves as a voice for all students by meeting with students and administrators from across the district's seven schools and providing
090brief reports at board of education meetings, as Zoe does so well. Interested students should complete the online application available on the district's website by April 10th of 2026. A board committee will conduct interviews in May and the selected candidate will be announced by the end of the school year. Um, and echoing the sentiments of everyone, um, thank you for all of the, um,formational presentations. Um, I want to give a huge shout out to the strategic plan committee. Um there is a a lot of talent throughout the district that put a very intentional, thoughtful, and purposeful um work and viewpoint into creating the strategic plan. So, thank you all for all the work that you've done. Um Into the Woods Jr., congrats to Miss Murray on a phenomenal performance um for the Pine Tree Drama Club.
091Spongeb um Finding Nemo Jr. was phenomenal. Um, and I'm going to echo the sentiments of trustee Serelloo to the high school students. Break a leg um for Spongebob this weekend. Um, thank you all. Have a good night. Um, motion to adjourn to exact session to discuss a pending legal matter. Motion motion. Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Motion so carries. The meeting is adjourned.