001I'd like to call to order today's board of education meeting. Today is Wednesday, November 19th. Stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. stands under >> like a motion to um adjourn to executive session to discuss personnel. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I motion. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Uh call to order to readjourn the meeting. We are back from executive session. Um today's board of education meeting today is Wednesday, November 19th. Um we will have Pineree student um Adriana Satronis that will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance 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. >> Thank you, Adriana, and thank
002you, Mrs. Mrs. Simmons. Good evening everyone and a warm Pine Tree School welcome to the special board of education meeting. It's wonderful to see so many members of our community, staff, and students with us tonight. I want to take a moment to acknowledge and extend my sincere gratitude to the dedicated people who make our district run so smoothly. First, thank you. Thank you to all our board members for your continued service and commitment to our schools. I also want to thank our superintendent, Dr. Tracy Norman, and his cabinet for all of your support. This meeting is especially exciting because we get to showcase some of the tremendous talent that we have here at Pineree. We often talk about academic performance, but tonight we celebrate the countless hours of dedication and passion our students put into
003the arts. The students you will see performing have worked incredibly hard, staying late, learning their lines, and collaborating with enth enthusiasm to bring their scene to life. Their commitment is truly inspiring and is a reflection of the commitment we see from all of our students across every discipline. We owe a debt of gratitude to the people who help support this talent. Thank you to our excellent custodial staff for keeping our facilities in great shape and a huge thank you to um our staff here tonight, especially our dedicated drama club adviserss um Lisa Shisco, Marty Bolino, Christine Reynolds, John Coats, and Danielle Santoro. Thank you guys for putting this together. especially on such short notice when I asked uh Miss Reynolds uh for this tonight. She gave me a weird look. Um but thank you all
004for fostering such a vibrant and creative environment. It is now my pleasure to introduce one of our dedicated members of our drama club, Adriana Cisneros, who is going to introduce the exciting scene from their upcoming performance. Bumsy bubble makers. The scuba divers. They got her. Oh no. But wait. Squiggle. Nemo and her and her new friends put their fins together and come up with a super secret escape plan to get out of that box. P you. How am I going to get out of here? >> Hey kid. >> Huh? Who are you? >> Name's Gill and I'm going to get you back into the ocean. In fact, I'm going to get us all back into the ocean where you belong. >> That doesn't mean we should ever stop trying. >> A real risk taker. Fish
005are not meant to be in a box. It does things to you levels. >> We can't give up. We were so close last time. >> Operation toilet flush. >> But our tank smelled for weeks. I still have nightmares. >> Getting too old for this stuff. >> Dang, we've got to help the kids. >> The anti pipe. It leads directly into the ocean, but the pipe pumps water into the tank. THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN GO AGAINST THAT CURRENT. EXACTLY. That's why Nemo, here's the key. I've got a way. This time's different cuz now we've got you. We'll all get out if we can swim the way we always do. We spin together and together we'll get out of here as a group. Harmony and the coral reef will be our new address. >> So, how
006about it, kid? >> I don't swim well. I got a bad thing. >> One bad thing never stop me. >> Good and bad. We battle through. But the OCEAN IS SCARY AND DANGER STILL. NOT WHEN YOU'RE WITH our crew. We paddle as a together. We swim together and together we'll get out of here as a group. Bubbles. >> Yeah, but what's the plan? >> We're going to jam the filter and fill this tank with poop. >> HUH? The demo is small enough to jam the filter. Tank will get filthy and the staff will have to clean. >> Oh, they'll turn off the pump. We'll remove the grate and swim the intake pipe into the ocean. >> Take the rock, jam the gears, fill the tank with poo. Take the grape, swim the pipe into the
007big old fl. Shake the rocks. Jim the gears. Fill the tank with poop. Yank the great the pipe into the big old blue. Into the big old blue. >> Come on. You can do it. >> Oh, I can't look. >> I did. I actually jammed the filter. >> Together. We together. And together we'll build a little accomplish your ticket to breaking free. And if we all join in, everybody wins and we'll swim together in the open sea. YEAH. Learning right through the sneaky And don't you forget. Oh, what was I saying? Oh, right. Come and check out the whole play in March. Bye-bye. >> Wait, wait, wait. What was the name of the fish again? Oh, well. Thank you to Pine Tree and those students for that amazing performance. I'm just waiting for the rest.
008So, we'll look forward to that. So, thank you so much. I will now read the mission statement. Um, 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 better, responsible global citizens. >> Have a motion for the revised agenda. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion so carries. >> Have a presentation of the district-wide safety plan. >> Well, it's um I wouldn't call it a presentation exactly. So, if you recall, shortly after the districtwide safety plan was approved this summer, there was a regulatory change requiring um an element of the plan that dealt with cardiac emergencies. So, uh we had until
009January to revise the plan and add this um cardiac arrest preparedness, and we've subsequently done that. And and the protocol is uh we then post the the revised plan for 30 days on the district website. And after that 30-day period, we would readopt the plan. So, um, you know, this is the first step in that in that process with the revised plan. >> Are there any questions? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You need a motion? >> Yes. I'm >> I'll motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Motion so carries. Uh, next is a recognition for the fire safety poster winners. I will welcome and introduce Joe Trapoto and then principles and vice principles to present the awards to the first place winners. >> Good evening. It is my pleasure to introduce
010the 2025 Michael J. Fitsoula Jr. Fire Safety poster contest segment of tonight's meeting. For those of you who are new or may not have been here, Michael J. Fitzula Jr. served the school district as the director of health, safety, and security for 20 years. He lost his valiant fight against cancer in 2009, but will always be remembered for the impacts he made on our district. Each year, our school district invites local firefighters to visit the elementary schools and share fire safety tips. They also select winners of our annual poster contest. We would like to thank the following departments and companies for their participation this year. The Woodbury Fire Department, Monroe Lakeside Fire Department, the Monroe Joint Fire District, Mombasha Haramman and Lakeside, and the Highland Mills Woodbury Fire Company. And at this time, I am
011pleased to welcome Mr. Joe Trapoto, our current director of safety and security. Thank you very much, Dr. Morales. I'm very happy to be here tonight. Uh, first of all, let me begin by saying how wonderful it is to see so many of our kids and their families here in the audience. Uh, we truly appreciate you taking the time to join us. And it will certainly be my pleasure to announce the winners of the 2025 Michael J. Fitzul Jr. Fire Safety Poster Contest. Uh each year the district invites our local firefighters into the elementary schools to give a fire safety presentation and at the same time these firefighters have the special task of judging the students artwork and selecting the winners of this contest. Michael J. Fitzula Jr. was a familiar and beloved face in our
012district. He served as the director of health, safety, and security for 20 years. Although he did lose his courageous battle with cancer back in 2009, his impact on the district was vast and indelible. We continue to honor and remember him through this annual contest and award. So this year's theme is charge into fire safety lithium ion batteries in your home. The focus this year highlights the importance of how to buy, charge, and dispose of these batteries. For the families who worked with these kids at home to create these wonderful posters, we want to thank you. Uh your time, creativity, and encouragement goes a long way in making this contest a success. We truly appreciate the role that you play in helping our students learn the importance of fire safety. So, with that, uh we all
013ready? Great. Uh first up from Sapphire Elementary, uh the principal Allison Boreello is not able to make it here with us tonight. So I will call up uh the Smith Clove Elementary principal. We have Dr. Christine Art and she will give out both awards. >> Thank you. Good evening. It is my honor to present the awards to both our Sapphire and Smith Club students. Congratulations to our kindergarten first grade winner from Sapphire Elementary School, Liam Guerrero. LIAM. And our first place winner for first grade from Sapphire Elementary School. Congratulations to Henry Kulamani. Thank you. And from Smith Clove, congratulations to our first grade kindergarten winner, Nicholas Nico Rivera. Stay for a picture. >> Nicholas, can you come over here? We're going to stand And from Smith Globe, our first grade first place winner. Congratulations to
014Jace Molina. JACE OKAY, congratulations Up next from Central Valley Elementary, we have Miss Marisol Jackson. >> Good evening. So, I am the proud assistant principal of Central Valley Elementary School and I am so happy that we have this opportunity to honor uh our students from Central Valley. So at this time I would like to call up our first place winner for second grade and it is Heille Roman Ruiz. Okay. >> Our first place winner for third grade elementary is Lucas Jacowski. And our first place winner for fourth grade is Gretani Gonzalez Cruz. And our fifth place first grade winner is Madison Hakez. >> Thank you. Next I will uh Oh, >> congratulations. Next up from North Main Elementary, we have Mr. Roger Davis. Um, we're proud of all the North Main students who participated in
015the fire post to coast contest. Our winners in the second grade, we have Marilyn Koutarski, our second grade. >> Our third grade winner is Elena Baker. Our fourth grade first place winner is Nicholas Diaz. And our fifth grade winner is Anthony Batista. Okay, congratulations. And lastly from Pine Tree Elementary, we have Mr. Tim Martin. Good evening everybody and welcome once again to Pineree Elementary School. As the proud assistant principal at Pineree, I'd like to bring up our first place winners. And I would also like to congratulate everybody who took place who um took honorable mention and second place and third place, but uh everybody that took part in our poster contest this year. So, our first place winner in second grade, can I have Lucia Pino come up? CONGRATULATIONS. In third grade, our first place
016winner, Emma Lang. In fourth grade, our first place winner, Valyriia Montes Lopez. Proud of you. And our fifth grade first place winner goes to Scarlet Shim. Good job, sweetie. >> Thank you again to all the Pine Tree students. Terrific job. And to all the students, terrific work. Okay. A big congratulation to all of our students and thanks again to our families, the district administrators, and the firefighters who all worked hard to make this possible. Thank you. >> Congratulations to all the students on a job well done. Next up, I'd like to introduce um Deputy Superintendent Dr. Eric Hassler to pro to provide the National Merit Scholarship Commended. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Eric Hustler. I'm the assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum and instruction. Um I'm here to introduce our National Merit Scholarship
017Commended students. Last October. Thank you. Last October, October of 2024, over 1.3 million high school students took the preliminary SAT or the PSAT exam, which is also the qualifying exam for the National Merit Scholarship Program. That test, the October 24 PSAT, automatically enrolled them in the 2025 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition. Nearly all program participants are seniors now planning to attend college next fall. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses the PSAT as a selection index for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Basically, they take those 1.3 million students and they narrow the candidate pool down to about 60,000 high-scoring participants who qualify for recognition. However, out of that 60,000, about half of those students represent the commended students or the top 2% of all seniors graduating in 202026. Mono Woodbury is very fortunate to have three
018students to be recognized as National Merit Scholarship commended students once again representing the top 2% of all graduating seniors of the class of 2026. I'd like to invite up Dr. Norman and and Vice President Simmons to come on up and congratulate our students. First up is Michaela Kim. Next is Abalash Patel. And the third is Mia Cto. >> Thank you. >> That's it. Congratulations to our commended students. Thank you. Congratulations to those young people and those amazing achievements. Next on the agenda, questions and our comments from interested citizens. The board of education encourages district residents to public publicly participate at its meetings and recognizes its responsibility to hear public comment by district residents. Today we welcome Zed Kadir um who wants to address the Eid holiday recognition. Hello. Can you hear me? All right. So,
019hi everyone. My name is Zed. I am one of the many Muslim students at Monrowoodberry High School and one of the many Muslim students in the Monroe Woodbury school district. I first came to speak at a board of education meeting in the August of my freshman year speaking on this issue because at the time we had no recognition of Muslim holidays at all. We had no um it was not in the calendar. We had no off. And I'd like to say thank you first off for the progress that has been made. Um it is now in the district calendar even if it's not a full-fledged day off. And this year the calendar that was uh passed um includes Eid off as a superintendent's conference day. That is amazing progress and I thank you for that
020but it is not enough. Muslims only have two holidays that we celebrate. Either al is off this year, but when it time comes around on May 26th, if I'm on May 27th this year, I will be asked to make the choice. Do I attend school or do I go celebrate my holiday? I don't know what test I might have that day. I mean, as a student, I'm in uh what is considered the hardest class in the high school, uh AP Euro. Uh I take other AP classes. I'm in honors. Taking one day off is a it is a time that is important. I mean, you can't just take a day off from school. And while yes, you are given your unexcused absence, it's excused for you, that just isn't enough because you still have that
021stress. You still have to make up for that. And even though, you know, we have one holiday off, we still have two. We only have two. The other thing is that having off for Eid is a bit more than just um not having to worry about the work I might miss. I mean, I'm a high school student. I've had to work around missing school days before and I you know that's something that just comes with being a student. But what you don't get from with just an excused absence what you do not get is the sense of inclusion and the sense of equity that comes with having your holiday be recognized. I mean you have students in the high like look the Muslim community in this area has been growing rapidly. We now have a
022mosque in Woodbury as long as it's the one in Monroe. It the community is growing exponentially and there are way more students that are Muslim in the school district. I've seen it myself. I mean when I came into the high school for the first time I could it, you know, I could if taking a bit of time I could count the amount of Muslim students that I met. I can't do that anymore. There's just so much more now that you know I'm a senior. there's this entire group of freshman, sophomores, juniors, um, new Muslim students that I've met. I've heard that there's a large populations within the within the elementary schools and CV. I've spoken to the parents at the uh, Islamic Center. And when you don't have recognition for a holiday, what it g
023what it shows to kids, even if it is not told to them explicitly, the lack of it makes them feel otherred, different. And if Mono Woodbury wants to give our students an inclusive environment, then you have to have recognition for our holidays as well. When the holiday is recognized, you give teachers a chance for a teachable moment. you allow for discussion and recognition for something that will make students feel like they are a part of the broader community. When I've had a conversation about this with teachers before, one thing they've always said is if we can give off for the Christian holidays, if we can give off for the Jewish holidays, why can't we give off for the Muslim holidays as well? I am simply asking you that as well. Thank you. Uh thank you
024for your time and have a great rest of your night. >> Thank you, S. Next up on the agenda, we have a presentation by the Palumbo Group of the 2023 capital program design and construction progress update. Okay. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Patrick Cahill. I'm the assistant superintendent for business and management services here. And I'd like to just take the opportunity to thank the board of education for allowing us to present to you this evening. Uh so we're going to be giving you uh an update on the 2023 I'll call it the 2023 2025 uh capital program or project. And uh with me tonight to uh discuss this is our director of buildings grounds, Andre Rudiac. Uh with me from the Palumbo Group, our construction management firm, is Scott Butler, our project manager,
025and Lou Rodriguez, the president of the Palumbo Group. So, I just want to provide a little bit of context and background before we fully get into this. So, every five years, school districts in New York State are required to go through a process of assessing their facilities and buildings. And I've talked about this before, so I'll be brief. Uh, and it's called a building condition survey. And essentially what we do is we hire an architectural firm or an engineering firm to assess the condition of our buildings and all our facilities and usually come up with a five-year capital plan and and we report this we analyze this and evaluate this ourselves and we report this information in New York State. So I think we went through one or two building condition survey cycles and we
026we realized that we had a lot of deferred capital maintenance in the district and uh a lot of building components were passed through useful life in almost every school building there is in every building. And so we uh initiated a referendum process in early December 2023. and we basically went to the community and and asked for the authority uh to spend uh about $98 million on these a series of capital improvements. We're going to talk about what those are and uh and where we stand with all that. And in New York State, you you have to have the voters authorize capital expenditures like this. Now, the good news with our 2023 um authorization is that we were able to do that and plan that with no tax impact. And we're able to do that because
027in 2017, again, going to the voters, we established a capital reserve fund. And so for about you know eight years or so up until this point literally we've been saving money into our capital reserve so that we would have an amount of money as I'll call it like a down payment and we've established uh for for the this capital program about uh $24 million and then there's an additional 2025 authorization we had another 5 million. So with that capital reserve down payment plus building aid from New York State, we were able to do all this work with no tax impact and building aid uh it's a form of state aid and it's the the amount is different for each district but we get approximately 70% uh back for every dollar we spend in capital work.
028So um so when we the 2023 capital program was approved the referendum uh we went into the design phase we're looking at uh what we needed to do and and this work was roofs it was boilers HBAC systems basic stuff repointing uh replacing you know components of buildings that were way past their useful life and not functioning very well I might add um we realized for an additional I would a relatively small investment. It was about $16 million. That doesn't sound small. We we could add air conditioning, full central air conditioning to three of our schools, our two five buildings, Pineree being one of them, North Main and CV being the others, and add walls and doors to the open classrooms at at North Main. So, we went out in 2025 and asked for an
029additional $16 million. Again, by using about 5 million from our capital reserve, we were able to do this with no tax impact. And so the full project we it's the 2023 2025 capital program. And we call it a program because it's really literally dozens of individual capital projects that are designed, submitted to New York State Education Department, and approved, reviewed, and approved by the state ed department. So we are at the point where we we're through phase one and the project has four phases and phase one was kind of the smallest phase actually and we're going to have the Palumbo group in just a moment talk about what we've accomplished and and where we're going in in phase two and three. So I think it's probably a good point. I'm going to turn it over
030to Scott Butler with Diploma Group and he will tell us uh what what we've accomplished and and what we have in for in store for us. >> All right. I appreciate it. Thank you everybody again for the opportunity to present. Thank everybody update on the uh current status and future forecast for the cap project. >> Um just like we had mentioned uh with along with our architectural firm, we're the Plumbo Group. react uh the uh boots on the ground construction management talking about uh all things uh constructability uh in and out of the buildings. Uh we're on site presence uh the faces of your administrators and and coordinators to make sure that your operational needs stay intact while we do the agree to improvements. A little bit about where we are. This is a a
031very long uh administrative endeavor. Uh lots of front-end work goes in, site investigations, uh design work, all going through submissions. Right now, we are currently 50% design approved through the state education department. That's phases one and two uh for keeping those track and score. And then what's nice here is we are looking to submit phases three and four uh by the end of the calendar year. So, we are looking real good by the end of 2025. everything that we plan to accomplish to be done and up to Albany uh for the early part of quarter 1, quarter two of next year to have those returned and then we are basically shovel ready projects uh and at any point here uh based on our willingness and the uh construction environment and scheduled to actually go out
032to bid, present, award uh and then through summers and subsequent uh calendar years go ahead and and build all this work. Uh we are just uh rounding the corner here uh finishing phase one as Patrick had mentioned a little bit of our recap of where we were. We had miscellaneous fire alarm improvements in some of our outuildings uh bus garages pole barns uh the MCC we're finishing up as well as the uh Sapphire buildings and grounds complex. Internally on our school buildings we had four security vestibules that we upgraded at Sapphire Elementary School, Smith Clove Pine Tree and Stevie Steve. Um, in addition to that, we also had two full boiler replacements. And what did we talk about today? Those boilers were circa. >> Yeah, we we had said the Smith Clove boiler was, as
033far as we can tell, from 1968. So, that is it's more than past its useful life. It's two lives. >> We've said kudos to Andre and his team for lipping that along, but we we're >> It didn't owe us anything. >> Yeah. Nice nice shiny toys to play with, right? So that was those were big significant upgrades. Uh those two were chosen specifically because they were for one for one replacement you know heating hot water for heating hot water. And we'll get into the uh the specific nature of the other uh three buildings which are going from steam to hot water which are much more involved as to why you know some of those programs we're talking about are several summers deep. A lot of the first summer being staging we'll get into uh here
034at Pineree with the second summer being that big push to really get the infrastructure installed. a little bit uh some photos here. Everybody walk through that wonderful vestibule that we built in this building. And as you see as the uh board meetings uh move throughout the district, some of the other work here that we had at Pine Tree and Sapphire Elementary School, giving a nice secure area for all visitors, uh parents coming to pick up kids, etc. uh give that warm uh warm welcome into the district as well as the boiler replacements at uh at Smith Clove and the high school. Uh a majority of our work outside of the uh elementary schools or at the education center. Um there is not a surface on the exterior of the building that we either haven't or
035will not plan to touch. Brand new roofs. I think that that roof may be circa 1960s as well. I mean this is one of the older buildings in the district. I think the stone placard on the outside says um 1923, right? So, uh we had just finished uh repointing um old building, a lot of sins, you know, as you can see from some of the change orders that we've gone through, right? But we are really turning over a a solid envelope when we're done with here the finishing of the uh the windows. We'll be back into this building in the coming phases. But as far as uh taking some of the priority needs off the play, you know, when you guys come back, we'll really be um watertight envelope. >> More about Central Valley and
036then get the high school. In addition to the areas where we are uh converting from oil to propane, we are taking the liabilities out of the district and removing the oil tanks. So there'll be several oil tanks that we're taking out of the building as we go through. So that's just nice. put that on record and and get some of those district liabilities uh put behind us. Uh phase two uh moving on to some of the future work which the last board meeting we presented uh scope associated with Pineree um as a design phase goes that submission to uh state ed was really more roofs was one of the more easier earlier projects that could be designed and submitted up. They will be subsequently bidded along with their uh elementary schools. For in this instance,
037we went ahead and associated the Pine Tree Elementary School roofs which was submitted in as part of phase 2A in conjunction with the scope of work within the phase 2B which was the complete renovation of this building. Um what we are talking about is roofs, complete replacement of the roof, repointing in the exterior buildings and sophets. Uh in addition to complete boiler replacement as Patrick had mentioned, uh includes a of full building AC. And then when you walk through the building, every single light fixture in the ceiling is getting replaced, every single ceiling's getting replaced, uh fresh air into the building, uh as well as the uh the boilers and the fire alarm system. So again, I talk a little bit about uh the scope of work uh at Central Valley as well. Uh that
038was the work associated with the tennis courts. So obviously the the tennis season is over for the fall season. Uh their last board meeting where we went ahead and awarded those documents. We'll be uh starting to mobilize and getting those contractors in there to rip up the tennis courts. Uh laying foundations for uh light fixtures both at the tennis court and the softball field. uh and then and then commission that uh when the asphalt plants open up in the fall or the spring hopefully by uh by the end of the academic year to really turn that over um turnkey both to the school and to the community. A little bit about the schedule. Uh so we we're looking to mobilize here shortly for Central Valley. That will be ongoing operations during the day. Um starting
039you know in the next couple of weeks all the way through through June. Um we'll be working with uh the administrative team to making sure that all the protective services both for the contractor and the school maintained. It's nice that we're going to be doing a lot of the demo operations during the winter, you know, but as the seasons turn and playgrounds start to become attractive, right? All the kids will be be running out playing that while we maintaining our separation. In addition there at Pine Tree, uh really the the turn key there will be around spring break where we start to mobilize and getting ready for summer. a lot of the infrastructure uh underneath the or under um behind the ceilings if you would. A lot of that laying the groundwork for what will
040be the summer work is really uh focusing some of the infrastructure, you know, the big pipes for the hydronic and the AC. Our goal there is to really get as many classrooms as we can prepped and completed for the summer or during the summer for the start of the school year and then all of the hallways, right? Uh we will not be replacing the boilers. we will not be replacing uh some of the electrical systems that will come uh really in time for the 2027. So, we can talk about that in further updates as well as the full comp full replacement of the roof. Right. So, if we work outside to in, we want to make sure that we've got a a nice waterproof shell, you know, at this building and preparations for a lot
041of the new finish work that we'll be doing uh uh over the summer throughout the school year. Taking advantage of a lot of breaks. I mean, classroom ceilings coming off, classroom ceilings being put back on, you know, spring break, uh, winter break over the summers, you know, and a lot of that is just getting ready for the big push, which will be 2027. Scott, I just wanted to interject one one point. Two. So, with the three buildings that I mentioned are getting central air conditioning, right? So, it's North Main, Pine Tree, and CV. Those heating systems were going from steam to hot water. So, you alluded to that, Scott. So it was a much more involved process in you know impacting almost the entire building with new piping new unit ventilators etc. And that's really
042what made that feasible to to make that switch. Folks may say why aren't we doing in other places other buildings. Well the high school is air conditioned already. You know those other buildings that are would not be air conditioned we're going to look at down the road for future capital work. But when we looked at those three buildings and the work that was happening, the scope, this was the time it was a very cost-effective way to add the air conditioning and that's why as Scott will allude to it, it's taking longer because it's much more the scope is much bigger. It's much more involved. And then uh the last thing that we want to mention which is going up to SED shortly, we are hoping for a spring bid and and subsequent award for the
043uh construction of the high school concession building as well as the replacement of the high school fire alarm and PA system. Uh that's going to be you know 6 8 10 months in durations. No sense waiting for that. We can go ahead and and and go through that work taking advantage of coordinated um summertime through summer school and things like that. But that will, you know, continue on second shift for the remainder of the calendar year of 2026. So we've got a big big 2026 planned, right? Stepping up and and working through these buildings and then subsequent fall, right? We'll kind of be back every fall for, you know, North Main being the following two years and then Central Valley being the following two years. So, we'll be, you know, in active construction mode all
044the way through 2029, uh, you know, going building by building, operation by operation, and and again, making sure that you guys maintain your operational needs, uh, throughout. Uh, a reminder on what's going up to SED for phase three, associated uh, work at the high school we just mentioned, which is a concession, and the work at the fire alarm and the and the PA system work associated at the middle school. We are also scheduled to go ahead and replace that roof in, you know, in full. that would take place in um 27 28. So that would be a fall bid of 26 kind of getting ready for that next summer lift and as well as a handful of STEM technology classes getting a facelift renovations which will be exciting. And then what we are doing here
045at Pineree for the summers of 26 and 27, we then rinse and repeat, right? Then we do North Main 27 28, Central Valley 28. So then the work associated at North Main, roofs, brick repointing, switch gear upgrades, power, firearm, ceiling, lights, a lot of, you know, a lot of repeat activities. So, and then uh last but not least, uh phase 4, which again we're talking about 2829, you know, the rest of the building. So, we'll be back in the uh middle school replacing fire alarm and switch gear. Uh that's the the the common nature of the the scope at phase 4 is just any building we hadn't touched at that point. We're going ahead and giving switch gear upgrades, panel upgrades. Um some of that stuff is circa 1960s 1970s modernizing code compliance upgrading as
046well as the scope associated with Central Valley. So what we know what we're doing right now at North at Pineree, what we will be doing at North Main will then ahead do in phase four for uh Central Valley. Those are the big scopes of work that we are completing here uh in the 2023 2025 capital project. Um all throughout um just want to touch base on some of the you know we talk about a lot operational needs. We understand that the school is in the business of educating students right we're here as a necessary need uh but need kind of need to be out of sight and out of mind. So we do that by conducting uh on-site supervision bi-weekly progress meetings with all the task at hands uh involving school administrators uh as often
047as possible to make sure that uh the needs of the buildings are maintained as we go through and build and again occupying second shifts occupying uh breaks really maintaining that separation uh while we are going through and improving the buildings right maintaining that everything that you guys have uh accessible during the normal business hours right maintain and that such we uh entertain the uh the opportunities to work with administrators. You know, we know that the schools have clubs and practices and things of that nature. We're constantly talking about where we can work, what we should be doing, and then again making sure that uh the school is ready for the next uh calendar day going through uh you know site safety and security. We may go through badging sessions, identification process, making sure that the
048the individuals that on property, you know, look dressing the part. Uh we know that at any given time, um they're going to be asked, you know, what are they here for, what are they working on, and they're they've got the right credentials on and they've gone through all the necessary background checks. So, we do that with all employees, making sure that again, school safety is the utmost importance. um have presented for you today. So, I appreciate the opportunity. >> Are there any uh any questions or comments anybody' like to make? >> Uh not for me. I thought it was very thorough. Thank you so much. >> Not from me either. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you. All right, let's we'll move on to approval of the minutes
049for the November 5th, 2025 meeting. Motion. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Is there a motion to approve the annual professional performance review hardship waiver? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Motion to approve the second reading of the policy update for item 11 20R and 5500R. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh reports from board of education committee members. Uh audit committee, Mr. S yellow. >> Uh we don't have a meeting scheduled for this year. I'll have another update at the next meeting. >> The date. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Policy Committee. Mah, >> we just approved the second reading of two policies that we discussed last meeting. We have not heard back from the
050attorneys on other policies related to this. We will be meeting on Monday at 4:45 at the Har. >> Thank you, Miss Donahghue. Visitation, Mr. Reynolds. >> Uh, we visited the high school quite recently. We checked out the new boilers and the soontobe laid out uh lockdown kits. Um, the new scanning in and out, the yonder pouches. A lot going on in the high school. All positive things. And then the last thing we saw was room 203. If you don't know what room 203 is, ask your kids or have your kids ask around. Some nice, great space for our high school students to enjoy lunch in a quiet environment. So, that's about it for that one. >> Same update for Capital Project. >> Uh Capital Project, you just heard a great presentation by our teammates. Um
051had to refer to them on any other questions on >> Thank you, Mr. Rem. Oxa. Dr. Santle, >> what did you say? Aspa. Oh, no. I have not gone to this meeting. >> Thank you. >> Uh, report by our student representative, uh, Zoe. >> Hi, good evening and happy Wednesday. Um, I hope everyone week has been lovely so far. Firstly, thank you to Pineree for having us today, which is kind of like a full circle moment for me because Pineree is where I actually started my MW journey about like eight nine years ago when I visit when I moved here from the city. Um, so last week I visited two schools again. Sapphire Elementary grades preK to first grade on Monday, November 10th, and Monroe Woodbury Middle School, uh, 6th to 8th grade on Friday,
052number 14, which is a pretty big age gap between the grades, but it went well. Um, for Sapphire, I had around 15 students and I started off firstly reading a book to them, then quickly asked them a couple questions via slideshow. And for the middle school, I also had a few handful of students and I did come with questions prepared for them, but the visit was more of a discussion base which they and what happened was that they pointed out things that they wanted to talk about and it went really well since they gave me a few insight about things I didn't even know about. Um, I asked both schools your typical questions like, "Do you feel safe? Do you feel comfortable talking to your teacher or any staff? What do you like or dislike
053about your environment?" But to really hit the highlights, I thought I could share things that stuck out to me. Sapphire students said that they really enjoyed school since they like being taken care of. They said that they like going outside and playtime. And a lot of them said that they also like learning whether it's about their core subjects or about interests that they have. Um they also like their teachers because their teachers tell them to have a good day. all around. I picked up that they do like saying at Sapphire with their teachers, which is always wonderful. Um, moving on to the middle school, the students said that they really do like how security guards there are constantly in the hallways. They mentioned that the security guards help them feel safer and also help hurry
054kids to get to class because the hallways are very crowded sometimes, especially in the common areas where most people congregate. They also did share that they wish teachers explained more of their subject so that they could really understand the material instead of moving on to a new topic. Also for the teachers to help them out more instead of just giving assignments or what they called busy work. Um, also in terms of grading wise, they wish that they could see their test faster because most times they don't get the results back until after another test or they don't have the time to go over the results of their test with their teachers to see what they got long wrong and learn from those mistakes. Um, they also wish in terms of teachers that they would take
055in time as a factor since they explained that sometimes teachers teach after the bell and have to write a bunch of passes or they don't start teaching until 5 minutes or later into the class and it affects them as students the most if they have an exam to take that day. Um, but good news students did think thought that they felt authentically themselves at school around friends and don't really have to master personality. they could be who they are, which is great because I know at like the middle school age level, it's a bit hard knowing that they could be comfortable, but they feel like they're themselves, and that's amazing. In terms of the yonder pouches, they said that they didn't really m mind it, but they did mention that unlocking their pouches does take
056quite a bit of time and wish for more places to unlock their pouches to lessen the time. And in terms of distraction-free learning, they said that most students aren't aware that they could contact their parents via email, but they do know they could go to make a call and most of them had positive reactions during distraction-free learning, saying that it did help their attention spans and like paying attention in classes. Um, they also mentioned that there were a lot less fights this year than last year around this time, which is also good outcome from distraction-free learning. There isn't a tech desk at the middle school like there is at the high school where if students have problem with their Chromebooks it could be fixed but it wasn't a really a main issue on the students
057radar but they did express wanting to know a little bit about cyber security and just technology in general. One thing they really really liked is that for their music lessons, there is a certain place where they could type in their student IDs or swipe in with their ID cards to automatically change their attendance that period to go to lesson so they don't have to constantly go through the classroom to tell their teachers and run down. And they mentioned that they really really do love that. In terms of lunch periods, they mentioned that the lunch lines tend to be pretty long and lots of cutting between students happenings without those kids being held accountable for it. They also mentioned that it's pretty hard to leave the lunchroom during lunch periods even though it's just to use
058the bathroom. They also mentioned that they really like their gaga pit, but it was but there needs to be some type of system to sign up. So, it's not the same kids every day having to use it. And apparently last year that already happened, but it somehow disappeared this year. And also the same thing for equipment. There should be a sign in and sign out sheet for that as well. They also mentioned that many kids don't know that teachers have extra help. So maybe like a quarterly reminder from teachers would work just so more students are aware of that. They also mentioned that they really do enjoy the activities that the middle school offers whether it's a sports or a club. And one thing I thought was really important that they wanted was to spend
059more time outside in the sunlight besides during their lunch or recess time. mentioning in quotes even just for five minutes since they can't really bring food outside. So, um they have to manage their time by standing in the lunch line eating their food then hoping they could go outside for recess. Wanting to go outside more is something they talked about for a while. And all the students I saw were unanimously on the same page about that. And they wanted me to mention if I were to say anything, probably wanting to go outside more. And those were my major highlights from the visits I did last week. Um, that's all for my report. My next visit is the high school on Monday, December 8th. And in the meantime, I'm looking through the fall survey I made
060and gathering highlights from that data to share. Have a great night. >> Thank you as always, Zoe, for very thorough and involved assessment of your visits. Uh, next up, motion to approve personnel items 15.1 through 15.8. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion carries. >> Uh motion to amend the agenda to add the superintendent tenure recommendations. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> It's being added to the agenda. >> It is being added. That is agreement to add. Yeah. So, I'll motion >> Second. All in favor? >> Motion carries. >> Motion to approve business and financial items 16.1 through 16.6. >> I have some questions. >> Okay. >> Um the corrective action plan and it's probably because I'm on the audit committee. Um, I would just like to,
061it says remind the extra classroom groups that they need to do the 72-hour, you know, make the deposits, but I don't see anything about ongoing monitoring. So, it's great if we remind them, but how is it going to be monitored? So, that was one. And then the number two was checks over a year old. Again, they're going to follow up on the two checks, but what's being done to modify protocols going forward? So, you don't have to answer now, but I think there just needs to be a bit more of an enhancement as far as process goes, so that way we don't have them come up in the future. >> Okay, we'll do. >> And then I do have um capital project change order 16.5. Uh one was 20 pages, one was nine. And I
062know we had spoken previously about like an executive summary. It would it would have just helped to know, hey, this is happening because we added XYZ. Very simple, very brief because I had to really read through the document to try to understand the changes. >> Under executive content, there are two memos that were explanatory single page. >> All right, I'll I'll look under there, but we we had talked about putting it on top of the document in there. So, just as a reminder, that's all. >> Um, that was it. >> Okay. Um I that was all all the questions I have. So I motion to approve unless there's others. >> Are there other questions or is there a second? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Motion to approve committees on special
063education and preschool education items 17.1 through 17.5. Is there a motion? >> Second. Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion carries. reports by board and central office. Dr. Hassler, >> thank you. So, just a quick welcome to all the new staff that were appointed this evening. A big shout out and thank you to everybody at Pineree from all the staff administration and all of the work that goes into an on-site board of education meeting. Thank you. Well done. Uh, I too plan on having lunch in room 203 in the high school. I highly recommend if you get a free moment to go and check it out. It's amazing. Um, this past Monday night was the kickoff to our fall holiday, not not necessarily holiday, but fall winter concert season uh at the high school with
064the wind ensemble, voice ensemble, and chamber orchestra. I highly recommend to anybody who even if you don't have a student uh involved in a concert, the concerts are published on the district district website. You must go and check it out. They are absolutely unbelievable. And happy Thanksgiving. >> Thank you, Dr. Hassler, Miss Novak. >> Thank you to Pineree for hosting us. Um I was delighted to see a sneak peek at Finding Nemo. So, thank you to the cast crew, directors, of that play. Um, congratulations again to our poster contest winners and our merit winners, uh, the National Merit Scholarship students and to the Palumbo group for the presentation. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving. >> Thank you, Miss Novak. Dr. Morales. >> Good evening. I'd like to thank Mr. Hermman, Mr. Martin, and the Pine Tree
065crew for hosting us tonight, as well as the drama crew for our sneak peek at Finding Nemo. Um, I'd like to congratulate those who received tenure this evening. Congratulations to our fire safety winners and our National Merit Scholarship recipients. Um, similar to what Dr. Hassler had mentioned, I had the opportunity to be really impressed by and proud of our students recently. One of those was our student engagement committee, our middle school and our high school representatives who are so articulate, so well spoken in sharing their questions, their um reports of what's going really well and suggestions as to what we can do to continue to improve. And the other was the concert Dr. Hassler spoke of, the chamber orchestra, voice ensemble, and wind ensemble. It was my first time going to that concert. My mom
066attended as well. And when we walked out, she could not stop talking about how impressed she was by our students, as was I. And finally, good luck to our cross country team this weekend at Bowden and our football team at Arlington as they continue in their championship season. And have a wonderful Thanksgiving. >> Thank you, Dr. Morales, Mr. Seriel. >> Thank you. Uh, I want to thank the school for the sneak peek at Nemo. It was very very cute. Um looking forward to the whole show. Um also thank you to Pineree for hosting because it is a lot of work to set this up for each of our schools. But um it is beneficial to for us to get around the district and I think it invites parents who live around the school to come
067into the meetings more regularly. Um thank you to Diane and Carol and all the team members who help coordinate this and the food and um the merit scholarship winners and fire poster winners. Excellent. Thank you for um our student speaker tonight um for getting up and sharing his uh thoughts on Eid and the holiday. The Palumbo group did an excellent job with the presentation and um I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and fun-filled Thanksgiving. Don't overeat. >> Thank you, Mr. Seriel. Dr. Santa Cool, >> I share the same exact sentiments. So, thank you very much to everybody and have a happy Thanksgiving. >> Thank you, Dr. Santa. Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening everyone. Uh, I too want to thank Mr. Hermman and Mr. Martin for welcoming us at Pine Tree tonight. The kids
068did an exceptional job. Looking forward to Finding Nemo Jr. Uh, certainly one of my my favorite movies. Um, you know, amongst the Disney classics. So, looking forward to that. Um, they did a great job tonight. It was an excellent preview. I want to uh thank and acknowledge our administrators for the job they did in a recent probationary staff review and that's a time where we are making recommendations on behalf of our staff to receive tenure. It is uh a process that we take very seriously and our administrators were very well prepared in speaking on behalf of the staff members that were presented at the time for tenure and I want to thank the board for approving that tenure recommendation this evening. There were only six as this was a midyear review. Uh we had six
069employees that are uh going to be receiving tenure in the middle of the school year. And because they are only six and I know that there are some here in uh attendance this evening, I would like to just read out their read off their names uh and recognize them. Uh so congratulations to Karen Leforge, Vincent Vespa, Michelle Jacobe, Teracita Qua, Michelle Liraniano, and Sandra Serva. Uh we appreciate everything that you do, but we we certainly thank you for your dedication and your service to our school community and we know that you will continue to make a difference in in the lives of our students. So, uh thank you and well-deserved congratulations. I too want to uh just wish uh luck for our upcoming fall um teams that are still competing in regionals. Um our cross
070country and our football team and good luck to those. I know that winter triyouts are already underway this this this week. So um good luck to our student athletes. Um and with that, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy some time off with friends and family. >> Thank you, Mr. Burgerer, Mr. for Reynolds. >> I agree with everything everybody's already said, so we won't belabor that. Um, I would just like to say there's a lot of great things going on in our district. Whether you're into sports or academic or the arts or anything, uh, get involved because it's the opportunity for you all to do wonderful things. Have a great night. >> Thank you, Mr. Reynolds, Dr. Vias. >> Thank you, Pineree, for hosting us, Adriana, and your team. You guys were
071amazing with Finding Nemo Jr. Can't wait to see that. Uh one of the message resonated every time I see that movie something new comes up. Uh never stop trying. Um so thank you for sending that positive vibes. Congrat congratulations to the first place winner and all the kids who participated in fire safety poster and national merit u scholarship recipient uh mention not recipient yet. Good luck for that. Um Zoe thank you for your detailed report. U there are some interesting and good insight. So I'm looking forward to unpack that a couple of things that you mentioned and have a happy Thanksgiving to everyone. >> Thank you Dr. Ryas. Miss Donahghue. >> I'd like to thank Mr. Herman and Mr. Martin and the entire staff and country for your hospitality. Um it's always a pleasure to
072visit the school. I also thank you to the drama club for the awesome preview of finding. I can't wait to see it in March. Thank you to Patrick and the Palumbo group for the update on our capital projects. Congratulations to our new appointees and to our tenure recipients. Congratulations to our fire safety poster winners and our natural national honor society inductees. And I'd like to wish good luck to our athletes this weekend and wish everybody happy and Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Donahghue. Mr. Kale, >> thank you. Uh, like to thank Pineree for hosting tonight and echo what everyone else has said already. Uh, and with that, I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cahill. Dr. Kifman, >> um, like to thank Pine Tree for hosting. Um, congratulations
073to the National Merit nominees. It's a big achievement. Uh, fire safety winners, congratulations to you. uh capital project is always a very involved uh affair. So, thank you for continuing to pursue it and doing a great job. Uh nice play. Uh I think the phrase of the day is don't put the fish in a box. It does. I think I'm going to put this one. It's a great great phrase. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm actually looking forward to meeting and uh have a nice evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Koman. Dr. Norman, >> good evening everyone. So, I too will brief by exception. Great night tonight. I want to begin by just really acknowledging our administrators, faculty, staff for coming out tonight. Thank you. A reminder that we have a half-day dismissal for all students on Friday, November
07421st for the parent teacher conferences. I want to thank the wonderful custodial team at the high school for welcoming me on their team last week for my most recent super sub segment. It was quite the experience and I learned a lot. I really value what our people do every day. So, thank you. Um, I too attended the concert, my wife and I, so I won't be late for that. But our students are simply amazing. Good luck to all of our competing athletes this weekend. I look forward to making my way around and getting on the sidelines of those events and cheering them on. So, if you're interested, check the website to order tickets for our football team. We wish our students, families, staff, and community members a Thanksgiving break filled with meaningful moments, good food,
075warm laughter. May this time offer you the chance to relax, reflect, and recharge, enjoy your welldeserved break. And lastly, we acknowledge a lot of people tonight. And uh just kudos to our student performers, all of our winners. You guys are simply amazing. Thank you. Good night. Thank you, Dr. Norman. On behalf of the board, I'd like to share a hearty congratulations to one of our own, Allison Burllo, on the birth of her beautiful baby. So, congratulations, ALISON. I too will mirror the sentiments of my uh fellow board members and colleagues. Thank you to Pineree for hosting us. Thank you to the students. Um as you all have heard me talk about exhaustively over the course of this time that I've been on the board. Play season is my favorite season. I love it. It's like
076going to Broadway without having to go to Broadway. So I am looking forward to Finding Nemo Jr. and all of the plays that are coming up. So, thank you to those students and the Pineree Drama Club. Uh, congratulations to the poster winners and the merit scholar um students. Uh, it is always phenomenal when students take the opportunity to do extra and it just shines in terms of their willingness to do that. So much much appreciated for them for doing that and it's great to see. Um, welcome to our new teammates and congratulations on tenure for those who have been dedicated to our district. Um, good luck to all of our athletes, our cross country team and our football team. I will say, uh, thank you to communications for the board spotlight. My children now believe
077that they are celebrities because they have been posted on the Monroe Woodberry social media. So, thank you for that. Um, and all of the amazing content. I've been hearing how cool it is. So kudos to you guys for being engaged and keeping your pulse the your uh content with the pulse and keeping up with all the kid things that the kids like these days. Um I would like to wish a happy belated Veterans Day to our own Dr. Norman and all of the folks who have served our country and happy Thanksgiving. Uh wishing you a warm, healthy, safe holiday and as you heard doctor's orders, it is okay to eat uh this Thanksgiving. So, I wish you all well. Um, motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn into an executive session to discuss an investigation
078of a public official. >> Uh, is there a second? Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Motion carries. Motion to adjurnn to executive session. Thank you all.