001And I'm now going to turn the meeting over to Doctor Mauricio for the superintendent's report. Thank you. President of the Land Board, trustees and, uh, staff who are here tonight. Uh, we know today was a very, uh, cold and, uh, beginning of a wintry mix of weather. And I just want to take the opportunity, uh, first and foremost, to thank all of our families, uh, all of our staff, all of our administrators, uh, and, uh, also the, uh, the crew at the city who pre salted our roads and allowed us to bring our kids to school today. And we made it just in time to our last run, uh, before the snow flakes began to fall. And so, uh, we feel these are real tough decisions at 430 in the morning. Uh, you're not fully
002sure which way is going to go. And the worst scenario is 50% chance of snow and 50% chance of rain. Uh, however, it worked out, uh, for our families because they were able to, uh, have our students in school learning and, uh, families to be able to go to work. And I want to say a very special thank you to our administrators and staff. So let's give them a round of applause. We appreciate all that they did. I'm going to share a couple of the slides. Some of them I'm going to, uh, move towards our next meeting. Um, so I'll skip through those. And reason is at our next meeting, we postpone Uriah Hill's, uh, presentation tonight. And that is because of the, uh, went to whether we want our staff to be able to
003get home, uh, tonight. And so they will be here. Uh, Uriah Hill families and our staff. Uh, presenting. So I'm going to save some of the slides, uh, to make sure that we share it out in front of our community. Uh, but I did want to say, uh, some timely, um, uh, words about, uh, MK program, which helped, uh, prepare and, uh, give out food for our community for the Thanksgiving, uh, holidays. And you see them here, uh, creating a bear kneel, which is a Spanish dish, one of my favorite. Uh, and so our, uh, students got the opportunity to, um, prepare the food and get the food out to our families. They also, uh, to the left here. Um, this is, uh, Belfiore told me today the book there is a book of recipes,
004and one of our high school teachers is a food critic. And so, as not, we didn't hire him as a food critic. He's a teacher. Uh, but he also has a passion for being a critic of food. And he's part of a professional network. Um, so he's the real deal. And so he got the books donated for all of our students for free. And that is the recipe book that they got. And then they got a chance to actually make a meal as well. So let's give him and, uh, all of his, uh, supporters a big round of applause and say thank you. And, Miss Belfiore, I left my notes on the, uh, talking points if you could bring them, because I know there's some details that we need to share. Thank you so much.
005Thank you. Uh, again, uh, and BC program bring together our, um, our students. Now, this is our MSC program, and BC, my brother's keeper. This is, uh, my sister's keeper program. I want to thank our very own Janice Reid, who is, uh, it over here, and, uh, uh, Doctor Ferris and, um, Marge, doctor Margie Daniels as well. Mrs. Johnson, who you see, she's our amazing physical education teacher and, uh, coach for our girls as well. And this was our first inaugural event where we brought a small group of our, uh, students, um, as part of this, my Sister's Keeper initiative, where they talked about visioning for their lives, uh, opportunities that they will have to explore different careers and different spaces within Westchester and beyond. And our staff came out. Doctor Bedi, the um, uh,
006staff from the city also were there as well. Um, and teachers and staff came out to uplift our students, and they also made a wonderful dinner, uh, for them as well. And so more to come on that and this is going to be a powerhouse team of, of, uh, leaders at our high school. So let's give our leaders and our student leaders a big round of applause. Let's get that one. Uh, this one is timely as well. And I got to see, uh, just another high school play. And it was funny from the beginning to the end. And I would tell you, this is probably one of the hardest plays that I ever saw put on, uh, from a high school drama club. The reason is that it was multiple, uh, plays within this play,
007and they had to come out of this character, get into this character mode, change their accents to an English accent, and do Shakespeare and modern, uh, plays. And it was phenomenal. They were great. And, uh, they even had props and puppets. And so let's give our drama club, Miss Chi Mae, Laura Belfiore, everyone involved in this effort, a big round of applause and we say thank you. Uh, Peekskill Middle School winter concert is coming up December 9th. And so that, uh, will be obviously at the middle school and so want to make sure that we have all of our families come out to that. It's 6:30 p.m. December 9th, and we're looking forward to our, uh, uh, our students performing in front of a crowd. So we'll share that in our Friday letter as well.
008Uh, do you want to share? Um, we're doing something new this year, and this came actually from our teachers, and we supported this effort. We always do a half day for parent teacher conferences at the elementary school, and we tie it to the evening conferences that we have. And so we give a, uh, a multiple hours for families to be able to work around their work schedules to be, uh, have the opportunity to meet with teachers and discuss the progress of their children. And so, uh, this, this, uh, December, we're going to do it for the middle school and high school and try it out if it's. Well, uh, attended, then we'll do it again in the spring. Um, and that'll be at the middle school on December 4th. They will have an early release
009day, and the the afternoon time will be virtual so parents can stay at work, log in virtually, and then the evening hours will be in person. So they get to choose which way is works best for them and what time works best for them. The high school will be December 10th, and then all elementary schools on December 11th will have an early release day as well. And thank you again to our teachers for bringing this forward to us and Doctor Bedi for creating a plan to make this happen. Saturday Academy's coming up on December 13th. This is one of our largest attended Saturday academies, and so we're looking forward to this winter wonderland. And thank you to all of the partners who have been part of bringing toys to our our school and to our
010community. And we're going to be handing out toys. There will be a special visitor from the North Pole and all great opportunities for our family to engage in a very, uh, family oriented way free with breakfast as well. And so looking forward to that event as well. Uh, I want to thank our very own, uh, president, Miss Valon, and a, uh, one of our parents, uh, as well. And we share in common our children are all friends as well. And so, uh, uh, Jillian, also, Rothschild is a parent. She's also on the, uh, PLT parent leadership team at Oak Side Elementary School. And they are resurfacing a wonderful idea that happened in Westchester in the past. And it is a, uh, donation from our community, our staff, uh, to be able to provide, uh, unwrapped
011gifts and, uh, bag. And I'm going to let her talk about it when she, um, uh, when I turn the meeting back over to her. But I do want to say a very special thank you. Thank you for bringing that idea forward. Thank you. Jillian, let's give her and Jillian a big round of applause and say thank you. And in our Friday letter, we'll have a link for people want to sign up and, uh, and adopt a child. Um, and all the details on how you get that done. So that's coming forward. All right. Uh, the high school has been busy, uh, preparing, uh, our families will find financial aid nights and college acceptance, uh, information. And tomorrow, December 3rd, 6:30 p.m., a representative from Manhattanville University will be available to answer questions on financial
012aid. A very important process, but sometimes not always very clear to everyone. Um, what, uh, what financial assistance is available to our families. And so please make your way out. And, Miss Belfiore, we have a call going out, uh, for that. Okay. And we'll double check tomorrow, uh, for new call. Okay, great. Thank you. And this weekend, also timely December 6th is the Peekskill Annual tree lighting ceremony. I had the opportunity to be there with my family last year. Wonderful event at the gazebo in the corner of Park and Division Street, so if you're able to be there, that will happen this weekend as well. On December 6th and then the Peekskill Fire Department at the central firehouse. Uh, also on December 6th, we'll have meet Santa and Rudy. Uh, that's 11 a.m. to 1
013p.m., and so please make your way as a family to the central, uh, firehouse on Main Street. And there's fun activities for all of our families. And let's give our fire department a big round of applause and say thank you for all that they do. Want to thank our special education parent teacher organization. Uh, they have a basketball skills and drills event. Um, Randy Albarino is the, uh, chair of the Septa, which is also one of our staff members at Hillcrest Elementary School. Uh, there are 15 slots left at the time that we created this presentation here. Uh, they had 30 total, but are 15 left. Uh, January 22nd, from 430 to 6:30 p.m. And there's a QR code where, um, families can register. We'll get that information out, uh, to our families. Uh, what's
014amazing about this is that our high school basketball teams, varsity teams, actually work with our students and help train them on, uh, some basketball skills. And so very important way to give back and develop our high school students as leaders as well. So let's give Randy a big round of applause and say thank you for all that she does. And that concludes our superintendent's update. Uh, a little shorter today. Uh, but we have a very exciting board meeting. Uh, next board meeting on the 16th and, uh, yes, the 16th. And we have Uriah Hill presenting their data, their accomplishments, what they working on as a school and also their parent engagement. And we have a very special, um, uh, student, uh, presentation or, uh, accolade that we're going to share with you as a board.
015Uh, one of our students, um, received a, um, acceptance into this very elite program that is national, and we're going to share it out, um, at our next board meeting. So very excited to share that out. And you're going to be very excited on how Peekskill is going to be on the national map. So coming soon. Next board meeting. Thank you. I'll turn it back over to our president. Thank you, Doctor Maurizio. Um, I think he hit most of the parts on the Peekskill holiday wish. Uh, basically, our wonderful school staff is going to be putting together a list of students, uh, scholars who are in most need and then will be partnering people who are willing and able to donate items for those specific children. Um, we'll give you a list of items to
016purchase and a time and place to drop it off. And then we will get those items to the family in need so that our scholars don't necessarily know it's coming. And it can be a nice surprise from the families who need a victory. So we want to support not only our our scholars and make sure that their holiday season is amazing, but we're hoping to help our families as well. Um, and now I am going to move on to the hearing of the citizens. It doesn't look like we have any citizens wishing to be heard tonight, but we're more than happy to have anybody who wants to join us. Um, come out in and share with us. Um, moving on to the consent agenda. Are there any comments, questions or thoughts? Can I please have
017a motion to approve consent agenda items seven A through seven J. So move by Brad, one second by Angela. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Does anyone have anything else they'd like to report or share? No. If there are no further actions, may I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Moved by Amy. Seconded by Frank. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Good evening. Peekskill.