001And I'm now going to turn the meeting over to Doctor Mauricio for the superintendent's report. Good evening, President Valon. Trustees, members of our school community. Members of our community. Parents are here as well. And thank you for all of the families and community residents who are watching online as well. Uh, I'm going to share some brief slides about Peekskill Pride, and then I will be turning it over to our principal, Mrs. Woodley. And I believe we have some Woodside staff here. So if you can give them a big round of applause. We're always excited to see our teachers and our staff and our administrative team, and this is welcome here as well. And, uh, and then we also have a special recognition at the end. Um, so, uh, looking forward to hearing about the great
002things happening at Wildcat Nation, also known as Woodside. First of all, happy New Year to everyone. Uh, it's still within that window of time where you can say, Happy New Year. And so hopefully you all had a wonderful, restful break and well deserved, uh, for all of our family, students and our staff as well. And as I saw a parent, she said, when the school begin again, and we shared that Monday after the break and they were ready to have our kids back in school, and we're all excited, including, uh, in the Marissa, our household to have, uh, kids back into the school. And so thank you again to all of our teachers, administrators and staff for all that you do, as we appreciate you so much. So one of the, uh, important things, uh,
003to update our community and we will continue in our Friday letter. And then we in February will be hosting a informational session here at the, um, probably at the middle school or at the high school. And that is in relation to protecting our promise. As you know, we have the Peekskill Promise, which is five pillars that we have collectively developed as a school community with our Board of education, parents, students and community members. And, uh, that promise is alive and well. And you'll see that today in the presentation. Uh, but at this moment, we have, um, uh, strong opposition to a charter school coming to Peekskill. We don't believe it's in the best interests of our children, our families and our school community and the community at large as well. Uh, we feel we while
004we have areas to grow, we have, uh, continued progress. We always say we're not a perfect district. We are progressing district. Um, however, uh, we one of our strongest attributes is that we are unified as a community and we are unified as a school district. And we believe collectively, uh, serving the promise is the best way to serve our children and families. And so we thank you from the Board of Education, our administrative team, and myself for all that you do each and every day. More to come on that. But on our website, um, Mrs. Belfiore has created, uh, on the district website under the headlines or district resources will continue to populate information as we receive it and develop it in relation to, uh, the charter schools and our opposition and the advocacy efforts,
005uh, that individuals will have to make their own decision. But we will certainly give you the information so that you can make an informed decision. And so more to come, uh, in that and thank you, Miss Belfiore, and to our administrative team and staff who have been working with us on this effort and to our board, uh, who unanimously, along with myself and the team are in, um, full opposition of a charter school in Peekskill. So more to come on that would like to take a moment to thank Mr. Wilfredo Morrell, vice president at sun River. Jacqueline, uh, sessions, who's the director? Uh, at, uh, sun River as well. They put on a wonderful, uh, Three Kings celebration this weekend, uh, at these, um, high school on Saturday, 600 plus people attended. That was parents,
006community members. We had probably 25 high school volunteers there. And it was a wonderful, full celebration of culture. And we thank some Sunriver. So let's give them a big round of applause and say thank you for all that you do. And here are our students, uh, dancing, um, in the auditorium as well. And there were many showcase, um, um, opportunities for our students to showcase their talent. And we had students from little, uh, elementary kids all the way up to the high school and then also community adult volunteers as well. So thank you again for all the work you may have seen, and you'll certainly see it as you leave. Uh, to the right of our administration building. There's a beautiful sign there, an electronic sign. And that is programable by. Um, I want to
007thank Janiece Reed, who has, uh, volunteered and to, uh, make sure that that sign is updated. So, uh, we thank you for all the efforts that you will do. We want to thank, uh, Carmine Crissy for making it happen. Happen from a construction standpoint, Janet Farris for making that happen, Cynthia Hawthorne, as well. And a very special thank you to the classes, the graduating classes at the high school, each of which donated money to make this happen. And then the district put in the rest of the funding. And so we have a wonderful electronic sign, uh, full LED. And so we're very excited about bringing that to our community. Big round of applause to our classes. Each of our schools held wonderful winter concerts, and I got to participate in many of them as well.
008And so just so excited about the wonderful talent that we offer as a school district as part of our Peekskill promise for many years. And it's also part of a very important promise, as you see there, the orchestra, uh, presenting to their families. And that was a dream that it would begin in third grade and make its way all the way up to the high school. And we've fulfilled in that promise and will continue to do so. Uh, with that, we have some amazing administrators that are here. So if we could have our principals, assistant principals, directors, please stand up. Let us recognize you for being here tonight. Thank you. Yes, principals are here and our staff and central office leaders. And then we have teachers in the, in the, uh, audio, uh, audience as
009well. Let us have them stand up. Let us thank you for being here tonight. But for all that you do every single day. And we also have amazing staff here. I saw custodians, a clerical staff, our teacher aides, teacher assistants. Let us have secretaries as well. Please stand up. Let us recognize all of our staff as well. And the audience asked for former trustee Mr. Michael Simkins. Always a pleasure to have you here as well. Yes, yes. And, uh, later and I'm going to share another aspect of one of our students as well, which we're excited. But thank you to our Woodside, uh, family for being here as well. Uh, I also want to thank Carmen Vargas. Maria Flores, who, uh, in partnership with the Tarrytown School District and our parent engagement team. Uh, Kamari
010is there as well. Uh, they were part of our Latino Parent Leadership Institute and want to say a very special thank you to the, uh, Sleepy Hollow district, um, and Tarrytown, for hosting our families. We brought our families there along with their families. They worked together and read a book called Northstar Solar. You are not alone. And it's an opportunity to uplift our families, to be advocates and help their children, uh, succeed and and reach their, their dream. And so, thank you to our team, uh, for being there from parent engagement side, a very special thank you. Let's give him a round of applause. And last night it was so late. We were, uh, probably 9:00, 845 when we left the PTO meeting. I forgot to grab a picture. But a very special thank you
011to Jan Corbo, our president, the entire executive team and the PTO. Branwen McDonald, our trustee, is the liaison. She was there as well. Our principals were there. And so we were there, uh, just advocating and talking about the wonderful things happening in our schools, sharing ideas and resources as well. Let's thank our PTO for all of their support. And while that was happening, Melissa Russo and Amanda Cardona, Doctor Vilas Rodriguez were having an open house, uh, last evening. And you can see it was a packed open house for families interested in pre-K and getting a tour of Uriah Hill. Big round of applause to our Uriah Hill team. Which reminds us that there is, uh, open registration. Uh, it opens January 20th, and that is for pre-K and kindergarten. And thank you, Board of Education,
012for committing, uh, to having, um, uh, pre-K seat for every child in Peekskill. And we've heard other cities, uh, aspire for that. And you have made that happen in our community, along with our administrators and leaders. And so, uh, pretty much any pre-K child, we have open seats right now, any pre-K aged child who would like to enroll this year or next year, we have seats. And that is our goal that everyone has a free full day programing, including dual language theme and other centers as well. Thank you to the board. Them a round of applause and say thank you. Another partner is our special education parent teacher organization. So we say thank you for all of your support and, uh, making sure that we have opportunities for our families, uh, to engage. And so,
013Mrs. Buckman, the meeting will take place tomorrow, January 14th, and Mrs. Buckman will share resources with our families as we move forward. But you can find this information on our website as well. And, uh, Laura, this will be on the website. Okay, great. And so if anyone's interested, uh, please refer them to our website so that they can be part of this as well. Would also like to, um. Uh, recognize, uh, robotics competition, which will take place January 31st. Thank you again, Denise Reed, Mr. Carlo Drini and the entire secondary team, Karen Modica as well. Um, making sure that we have a wonderful multi school districts. Many school districts come here uh, to compete and volunteers are needed. Uh, and it's, uh, each of Wheaties in the morning, get a good oatmeal breakfast. You'll be
014there for some time, but we'll take as many hours as they can give. And so if anyone is interested in volunteering, it is super fun. You don't have to be technical. You just have to be willing to volunteer. And it's a wonderful time for our families. And you'll just leave there, uh, gleaming and smiling ear to ear because you see the students in their space and they're like athletes. They are competitive, and they make these, uh, wonderful robots. So Ginny's re calling the Drini. Big round of applause. Thank you. From Mohican. Also part of the promise is the wonderful commitment to the art. We have amazing art teachers in our school district at Woodside and all of our schools as well, and really excited about the work that is happening. The elementary art show. Thank
015you, Peekskill Coffee House. Let's give them a big round of applause. They host us every single year, and we want to say thank you for all that they do. And their three locations, including this year, new area creative spaces as well, which is right down the block from the coffee house. And then also we have the Bean Runner Cafe, which will host the uh, secondary program. And that's on February 10th, 2026. And so please make your way to, uh, go out there. And I have each year purchase beautiful artwork from our students, and they get to have the opportunity to sell their artwork. And it's adorned in, in my home and in my office as well. And people always ask me, where'd you get that? And I say, Peekskill Pride. And so please make your
016way out. Let's give our art teachers a big round of applause and say thank you. So we've had a quite a bit of dialog as a, as a school district on technology in particular, uh, artificial intelligence, screen time, a variety of different things related to our students and how they engage with technology, as you know, it is it is rapidly growing and the opportunities are plentiful. But we also want to be mindful and make sure that our children are safe on technology, but also that we are mindful of their opportunities and how much time they're spending there, and making sure it is value added. And also that our kids, uh, get to go play outside and play with each other. Um, that's important as they develop as children as well. For our parents, um, and
017staff, we have a technology survey is still available. Uh, we'll put it in our Friday letter again. There's a website link as well. We need to hear from you. Uh, Laura, how many responses in writing? By 13. Uh, 109 total and 12 open ended. So we created an open ended space where you can write your, um, any details you would like us to think about. So very important for us. So thank you for your input. This is super exciting. We learned about this at the rotary, uh, meeting last week on Thursday. And so we put it in our Friday letter. And uh, tomorrow you'll see an email from me to see if we can get this on that beautiful sign. Uh, see if we get a picture. We'll test it out. If not, please email
018janiece. Any complaints? Um, so, uh, Johanna Hayward is a graduate of our high school, uh, class of 2015. She was just named Forbes 30 under 30. And so let's give her a big round of applause. And her mother, Robin, used to work for us at the high school in some of our schools as well. She was super proud as a mom, but super proud also that she is a graduate of Peekskill High School. So again, another big round of applause. That is awesome. Speaking of which, uh, our very own doctor, Kurt Modica, was honored by the Westchester Alliance of Black School Educators, which our very own Jamal Lewis is the president elect and will be serving as president, uh, next year. Many of us were able to go to this wonderful scholarship fundraiser in which
019two of our students won a scholarship, uh, towards college as well, uh, along with others in the county. And it's a great organization. Doctor, when he was recognized for his work and, uh, Liana mart was one of our student photographers at the event. And our student, uh, board member, Talia Martin, was also one of the photographers as well. Let's give her both of them a big round of applause. And that concludes our Peekskill Pride. And so, uh, with that, uh, I'm going to, uh, turn it back over to the, uh, board president. And, uh, then we'll have our presentation from Woodside, and then, uh, we'll move forward with our, uh, school board business. Thank you everyone. Great. Thank you, Doctor Morris. You. Now we're gonna move on to the hearing of the citizens. The Peekskill
020Board of Education desires and values the input of the entire school community. For those who wish to address the board, please sign in and state your name, city or town of residence. For the record, please keep your remarks to three minutes or less. Um, and discussion of district personnel is prohibited. Although we do not engage in dialog, we are listening. Please leave your contact information for prompt follow up from the board, president or superintendent. Is there anyone wishing to be heard? Um, if there is no citizens wishing to be heard, then we'll move back on to the continuation of the superintendence report. So I will hand it back over to you. Duckworth. You. Thank you, President Valon. At this time, I'm going to ask, uh, Mrs. Woodley and Mrs. Welker to make their way to
021the podium. And now we're going to begin with Mrs. Woodley, and she's going to share a presentation, uh, related to all of the work, um, aligned to our Peekskill promise. What's happening at, uh, Woodside? Um, some data and some, uh, academic, social, emotional engagement culture, um, staff development. And you're going to see, uh, some wonderful, uh, information, uh, presentations related to all the wonderful work. And I speak as a parent. Uh, thank you. As a parent, we did not want to leave Woodside. We love oxide. Now, we're never going to want to leave oxide as we didn't want to leave Uriah as well. So I think that's the theme. Uh, but just really thank you from all the parents. I hear wonderful things about what you do each and every day, and I saw it
022for myself as well. And so with that, I will turn it over to Principal Woodley. Let's give her a round applause and encourage her in her presentation. Good evening. Uh, my name is again Stacy Woodley, and I'm the proud principal of Woodside Elementary School. And I have at my side Cynthia Walker, our assistant principal. So we are very excited to be in front of you this evening. And just before I begin, as I look around the room, um, for those who may be families that may be watching at home, you'll see that the work that we do every day is not done in isolation. It takes every person in this room to work towards the common goal. So I just want to thank you all so much on behalf of Cynthia and myself, for coming
023out to support us, not just at the building level, but at the administration administration building as well. So thank you. And thank you to the Board of Education. So good evening, members of the Board of Education, community members, families joining us at home. And my esteemed colleagues. Tonight, we celebrate the accomplishments of the 2024 2025 school year at Woodside Elementary School, proudly known as Wildcat Nation. This evening's presentation will highlight our school wide data in literacy and mathematics. We will also share our progress and ongoing work towards fulfilling our commitment to the five pillars that are reflected here. This year, our theme is Making Our Mark. It is inspired by the book the Dot. By Peter Reynolds. This story underscores the importance of self-belief and demonstrates how encouragement can ignite creativity, build confidence, and foster
024personal growth in ourselves as well as our children. Yep. Like all schools in the district, we use data to inform instruction through the framework outlined by Paul Bamberger. Since Santorum's work driven by data, we collect and analyze data at the building level, grade level, and individual teacher level. From there, we strategize by creating or refining action plans, move to implementation, and then assess and adjust our practices. This continuous cycle ensures that instructional decisions are responsive and that student progress remains at the center of our work. The first data points that I'm going to share with you tonight is our aims web data for early literacy in the fall. 260 students were assessed. 121 of these students were general education students, 116 were English language learners and students with disabilities. The students were assessed using letter
025name fluency F and letter word sound fluency, which is L WSF. There will be a test at the end of the presentation. Among general education students, proficiency increased from 18% in the fall to 56% in the spring, reflecting a 38% growth in proficiency for our students with disabilities, and our L students proficiency grew from 0.4% in the fall to 22% in the spring, representing a 21.96 increase. In grade one, we had 238 students that were assessed in using oral reading fluency. Overall, first grade proficient proficiency increased from 24% in the fall to 32% in the spring, reflecting an 8% gain among the 112 general education students that were tested. Proficiency rose from 36% in the fall to 55% in the spring. The next set of data we will look at is the URL benchmark data
026through our American Reading Company, our Arc reading program. As you can see, the students in the beginning of the year is the light blue. And then how they were assessed at the end of the year, making great gains. So we had one student that was on a first grade level when they first came into school. Then kindergarten at the end. Kindergartners are reading at a first grade level. And kindergartners that were reading at a second grade level and beyond. So I just want to take a moment to define what these levels are so that you have, um, the full context of what what's happening in our school so that you, you'll be able to celebrate the growth with us in kindergarten. If you can see it, there's levels one y to three y. And those
027students develop concepts of print letter recognition and sounds using pictures for meaning. They recognize early high frequency words and retell stories using illustrations. They need to get to a level one G and two G by the time they leave kindergarten. At that time, students read patterned text, apply phonics skills, recognize high frequency words, retell the beginning, middle, and end of a story, and demonstrate literal comprehension. We want them to be at A2G when they leave us. Leave from kindergarten to first grade. Excuse me. In grade one, students read with greater accuracy and fluency. They rely less on pictures, answer text based questions, and make predictions and connections. So you can see at the beginning of first grade the amount of students that were still reading on a kindergarten level, first grade and second, and then
028how you were able to move those students along so that many of them were on grade level or above. So making our mark in literacy. On this slide, I will highlight certain things and practices that we use throughout the school year. We have cross grade into visitations where teachers get to visit other classrooms where, uh, seasoned teachers or are able to share their practices with some of our newer teachers. Or sometimes it might just be a different skill that they might want to, you know, um, get better at. So we will partner up teachers so that they can visit visit each other's instruction. And when we do this, it strengthens it strengthens the alignment and elevates teacher practices. Teachers learn from one another while honoring research based best practices in literacy and mathematics. We use
029the workshop model, where teachers meet with at least two groups daily to to provide targeted and immediate feedback to students. They are a small group instruction and ongoing goal review to ensure that the workshop model is moving strongly in the literacy block. We use Socratic practices to promote discourse, critical thinking, and student ownership. Students work with the Arc Book Collection, which has real books, real books in hand, as well as the Arc bookshelf, which is a library that is online. We strongly believe in students holding books in their hands, and that is our top priority. Classroom libraries and a lending library foster authentic, independent reading. We do use data to guide, like I said, to guide our instruction data guides conferring goals, setting instructional decisions. There's peer collaboration and small group instruction that addresses individual
030student needs. Teacher instruction is prioritized over electronic platforms. Over the years, we've had other districts come to visit Woodside and see best practices and arc in action. The district always shares before they leave. They always share how much they valued the conversation that they had with our teachers, as well as what they got to see in the classrooms. It's a great time to be celebrated by other educators across Westchester County, and them acknowledging the great things that are happening in Peekskill. Wait, did you guys catch making our mark? You got. Okay. This one been. Engaging our parents. We've held parent workshops to empower our parents and guardians to help support their young readers at home. We use learning dynamics and learning dynamics as an early reading program that teaches children reading skills, helps them to
031build knowledge of the alphabet and decoding skills. And it supports our young students who are just learning to read. And it's designed for pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade. And I'm so happy to announce that we have collaborated with Uriah Hill administration, Miss Melissa Russo and Amanda Cardona and their staff to, um, facilitate and work together to provide these workshops. The workshops are facilitated by our literacy coaches, our teachers, and our reading team. We continue to strengthen the homeschool connection through All Paws on Writing initiative. This work builds a strong foundation for our scholars by fostering real world connections to writing, while cultivating a lasting love of reading and writing. Our parent leadership team. Okay, I have a quote. I love quotes. The quote tonight is community is much more than belonging to something. It's about
032doing something together that makes belonging matter. And I have to say that Cynthia and I working with this is just a small representation of our apparent leadership team we have. We do have a diverse group of parents that participate. But this picture I asked them to take last night at the executive PTO meeting, because we're always so busy working that I don't stop to say, hey, but I will get some pictures in the future of us working together. But this has been it's a really great initiative, and I'm very proud to say the work that's happening with our parent leadership team. They are so dedicated and they help us to collaborate on thoughtful use of our PTO funds. They support the planning of school trips, and we've engaged in some meaningful conversations around homework and
033writing, both from the parent perspective as well as the school's perspective. So the dialog has been wonderful. How are we making our mark in math? As in literacy, we use an engaging, student centered approach that builds understanding for our scholars through whole group, small group, and individual support. Our mantra at Woodside is meet the children where they are and continue to build on that foundation. Our goal is to build confident, happy, inquisitive, lifelong learners. This slide represents our kindergarten students being tested in Ames web mathematics. Some of the concepts are a number naming and concepts and application in the fall. We had seven. You'll see at the top we had 7% students that were on proficiency, and by the spring that jumped to 54%, showing that our proficiency growth in mathematics is 47%, which is
034a beautiful, um, place of growth. And we celebrate that. For grade one, we had 14% of our students at proficiency in the fall and then the spring, they made a mighty jump to 78% in proficiency. Can we just clap our hands on that beautiful amount of growth that these students made? Making our mark in steam. So first off, I would like to start off by thanking Doctor Mujica, our esteemed teachers, working together with our own Melanie Bryan, um, our Steam classroom, our Steam teacher. She partners with the National Institute for Stem education. She has her Stem teacher certification, Lego education training, Steam educators, Collegiate Circle member. She's also a member of the Westchester Stem ambassadors program. Through mercy, she's provided our students with hands on projects utilizing the engineering design process, Fundamentals of Coding with
035Lego Coding Express and Tello drones, engaging learning experiences, integrating creativity and collaboration. We've also included parts of our Lysol Mini Lab kits last year, where students were able to learn about germs and healthy habits within your home and daily lifestyle. And over here is a picture of our students using the drones within the classroom. Making our mark in music in the brain. I would say we educate the whole child. Our music and the brain program provide music literacy and keyboard instruction during the school day, building focus, confidence and cognitive skills that support learning across all subjects. Mrs. Gallacher, a music teacher at Woodside, and Miss Marsha Casada, the music teacher at Uriah Hill Elementary, collaborate closely in implementing this program, ensuring consistency and continuity in music instruction across both buildings. My name is nest and
036I'm good. Hello. We go, I have money. I. Who? Can clap for nasira and always. I just I just want to I'd like to mention it's it's so important to know that the. Children learning these early music skills it has flown flowed over into the community where parents are signing their children up for piano lessons because they're so excited about the work that they're doing at Uriah Hill and Woodside. Our commitment to the whole child extends beyond academics. This slide highlights how we create joyful, community centered experiences for students, opportunities that build belonging, engagement and positive school culture. Events like family celebrations, shared meals, and classroom community activities reinforce that. Woodside is not just a school, it is a family where students feel seen, supported and valued. Our clinical team, making their mark to support
037students socially, emotionally and behaviorally. We are fortunate to have a dedicated clinical team. Our team includes a bilingual school psychologist, school psychologist, and a social worker who work collaboratively, collaboratively with teachers, administrators, and families to provide proactive and responsive support. The team plays a critical role in helping students regulate emotions, build coping skills, and receive timely intervention when challenges arise. Making our mark on social emotional learning. Social emotional learning is embedded throughout our building. We have established sensory spaces, classroom calming corners, and the Zones of Regulation framework to help students identify and manage emotions. Our clinical team provides cushion SQL lessons. We utilize a character themed book series and implement the Rethink School curriculum. Additionally, we partner with a JCS School-Based clinic to ensure families have access to outside mental health resources when needed. Parent
038family and community partnerships. Strong schools are built through strong partnerships. This slide highlights our family and community engagement team working to connect families to school events, resources and support services. By strengthening communication and collaboration with families, we ensure students receive consistent support both in school and at home. We are Wildcat Nation at Woodside School, spirit and pride matter. Wildcat nation represents our shared identity. Students, staff and families working together toward a common mission. This sense of belonging builds confidence, motivation and connection for our students and reinforces a positive school climate. This is the debut of the Woodside Elementary Schools video that will be on our website. When you come to Woodside Elementary School. Many people say when you walk into the building, there's such an electric energy and there is overflowing love and calm and
039peace and joy within the building. When you watch this video, I do hope you get a true sense of Wildcat Nation. Welcome to Woodside Elementary School. I'm Stacey Whatley, the proud principal of Wildcat Nation. On behalf of the Peekskill Board of Education and our dedicated Woodside staff, I'm thrilled to introduce you to the wonderful programs and initiatives that take place at our school. We are committed to creating a welcoming, affirming, and safe environment that embraces and supports all students. Every day, we bring the Peekskill Promise to life through our dedication to academic excellence, character development and community partnership. Celebrating our young readers, our kindergarten and first grade students made incredible strides through the American Reading Literacy Program. They become excited about reading. They are brave readers and thoughtful thinkers, from learning to decode words to
040exploring exciting nonfiction topics. Our scholars have shown tremendous growth, curiosity, and confidence. They've learned to choose, just write books, discuss what they've read, and move up in their reading levels with enthusiasm. We are also building a strong foundation in mathematics and kindergarten. Our students build a solid math foundation by exploring numbers, shapes, and measurements. They begin the year learning number sense, simple addition and subtraction, and how to express their thinking using pictures and models. They also explore geometry by naming and building 2D and 3D shapes. Preparing them for success in first grade and beyond. In first grade, we focus on fully aligning on math curriculum using Zurn and explicit direct instructional strategies. Our daily math block includes whole group fluency activities, word problem exploration, independent digital practice, and small group instruction with targeted support. At
041Woodside, we use PBIs Positive Behavioral interventions and supports to foster a culture where students are ready, respectful and responsible. Monthly assemblies celebrate positive behavior and reinforce the district wide character education themes. We also integrate social emotional learning, SEO through classroom lessons, and school wide experiences to help students build self-awareness, regulate emotions, and develop empathy. Our program is a place where imagination comes alive. Students explore diverse media. Paper, oil, pastels, paint, and more while building confidence in their creativity and learning about artists from around the world. Our Steam program science, technology, engineering, Arts, and math sparks curiosity in our youngest learners and lays the foundation of lifetime exploration. Students engage in real world problem solving that promotes inquiry, collaboration, and creativity by connecting classroom learning to meaningful challenges. Our scholars develop critical thinking skills that will
042serve them well into the future. For the past four years, Laura Perkins and her husband John have generously partnered with our school to create and maintain Laura's Garden, a vibrant outdoor learning space. Laura worked side by side with teachers and students to teach gardening, sustainable practices, native plants and seasonal crop rotation with support from the Westchester Land Trust. We've added pollinator friendly plants and introduced composting. At Woodside Elementary School. We're more than a school. We're a community rooted in love, learning and growth. We look forward to continuing to partner with our families and community as we nurture the next generation of thinkers, leaders, and changemakers. Welcome to Wildcat Nation, where every child shines. And before we conclude our presentation, I would like to ask, uh, Miss Molina Corona, would you please come up to help
043us as we celebrate Miss Laura Perkins? Come on up. She has the biggest green thumb in the community. Let's give it up again, please. For Laura. The amount of time that she volunteers weekends and evenings. Before I squeeze you. I just want to read the certificate. Certificate of appreciation is presented to Laura Perkins for your outstanding efforts and valuable contributions to the Peekskill City School District community and our school gardens. Awarded on January 13th, 2026, signed by Doctor David Mauricio and Mrs. Gillian Valon. I'm sure. For sure. Anyway. I don't know, by the way, that. Doctor Milton, you joined. You need some wood. And that concludes the Woodside presentation. Thank you Woodside. Thank you community. Thank you. Board of Education. Now we put you in the hot seat. Betty, does anyone on the board have
044any reflections? Comments? Questions? 50. First try. Um, thank you for your presentation. Uh, thank you for being principal for my eldest baby, who's now a senior. Um, it's full circle. Your school's always been amazing. Your leadership has always been amazing, and your team has always been amazing. Um, so, uh, looking. I'm doing my, um, board due diligence responsibilities, and I'm looking at your reporting and your numbers, and, um, our kids are awesome. Um, I'm seeing a story emerge that, um, we have to, uh, we have to always be concerned when we see, you know, that there's still a large chunk of those kids who are in the not proficient. Reading the story I'm seeing when you drill down a little is, uh, there maybe because we have a lot of kids who are learning two
045languages at once because, uh, the math scores are incredible, right? So, uh, what I'm guessing is that it just takes a little bit more time, which is great. Lots of kids need more time to get through reading. Uh, we're also seeing in your AAC data that it looks like there's no child who didn't advance. So if you're looking at these very large categories, they're still falling into the not proficient, but they're moving forward. So this isn't a question that we need to have answered tonight, but I think maybe when we do our, um, you know, our entire uh K through six presentation or something we want to talk about, um, how are we tracking our kids and what are we doing to make sure that nobody's staying in not proficient because we do also have
046in those numbers kids who are coming and going. So not every kid who's not proficient in third grade has been here since kindergarten. But for the ones who are, we want to know that we're doing every possible thing to bring them up and out. And I think like by being able to see the progression inside the arc data, that's really helpful to see that nobody's just being left to not learn. You know, they're just learning probably at a slower pace. And we want to see where they're at in third and fourth grade so that, you know, it doesn't become a problem later on. And all the wonderful experiences that you're having at the school, the stem, the gardening, that all informs their ability to read because later on they're going to want to read about
047those things. So anyway, thank you again. And I just wanted to do that little dive into the data and what it all means. And if you have any thoughts, great. But if not, we can talk about it as more of a holistic thing for sure. Thank you so much for those comments. It's definitely something that we address at school. We're looking at, uh, their foundations assessments, the Hagerty, like we're trying to triangulate the data so that we can really drill in to see where those needs are. But I appreciate you noticing how we shifted with the slides this year, because it can be a little disheartening when you're looking for a greater, uh, greater percentage to be proficient. But my goodness, the strides that students are making when they come in, you know, with not
048many skills and how they're able to make so many gains, but not yet be at a proficient level. But that's something that we we talk about always. So thank you for that. I think to that same topic, um, our RTI system is really, really strong, particularly from one side moving up and um, identifying students who are in that struggling category. We've done a pretty good job. And as the state continues to work with things like dyslexia, which wasn't really noticed as much, and now they're giving more training and more money and more funding and more, um, legal requirements to identify these students. We're seeing students who are having, um, like a literacy based, uh, disability come forward a little bit, which I think is really helpful as far as giving them the tools that they
049need to succeed. And this might not be the grade that they do it in, say, kindergarten first. But creating that foundation for them will help them moving forward. So I think that we're doing a really good job looking at the right type of reading teachers to really meet those students where they are and getting those students and catching them as quickly as we can because we're evaluating as often as we are. Yes. Um, which I think really helps with those numbers. Um, I think it's going to be great to look at since we're continuing on with a system. And I think that's something we as a board should probably look at. We're looking at one year and a snapshot of what's out, which is wonderful. It's great to know where we are, what we're doing.
050But it would also be great to know since we implemented Arc, how is that progression and is it doing what it's supposed to do in the sense that, um, when you have a program and you do it with continuity, it continues to grow on itself and the students become more proficient as the teachers become more, um, comfortable with the material. Um, I also wanted to point out that the value that I see of the schools working together sometimes in, um, the Princeton plan, like we have, we look a lot at schools working in. Silos. So the fact that there's interdisciplinary work between, um, Woodside and Uriah Hill is really great for the teachers, the students, the parents and everything else. And I think that that's really beneficial because I think for parents, that's a huge
051shift because we touch base with our preschool teachers every day. We don't see your Woodside teachers every day. Um, so knowing that those conversations are happening, knowing that our kids are being touched, um, by individuals who are working within the system and communicating with each other is really helpful. Um, I also wanted to highlight the creative ways that your special teachers are reaching out to parents. Um, that video that we watch from miss golfers, like she sends those to parents as well. When those students do those, um, piano playing. Yes. So I think that is amazing because a lot of times you're special, just, you know, you're kind of asking for what you do in music class. Why did you do a gym today? And having the fact that those teachers are reaching out to
052parents, uh, opens the door, especially when you have kids like mine who is like, they don't want to tell you anything that they weren't at school all day. We don't know what we were doing. So, um, I just really wanted to thank you and your staff for doing those kinds of things for us. Thank you so much. And then the board common question. Just wanted to, uh, follow up a little bit on also the conversation of, you know, the math scores being really well, but the the more reading writing component being difficult. I like that you also mentioned the holistic approach, because I know as a, as a young student in this district, um, I did not do very well in English, in writing, but that's also because Spanish was technically my first language and
053then I learned English. So a lot of for me, and I can imagine many students as well, who may have parents who are immigrants, who might have just recently moved here or still been here and just trying to adjust culturally, um, that holistic approach of just learning different shows and like things that are interesting and popular now might be a really good way for them to also feel comfortable to ask questions. Because I know myself, I definitely felt awkward asking because I felt like everybody knew. So I didn't want to also feel isolated or outside of the the social group that was there. So I just wanted to say I really appreciate that and I really love the garden. I think it's incredible. And thank you to amazing, um, everybody who's been part of that
054project, because I think that that's what our students need, um, especially at this age. So thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, hi. Thank you so much for your presentation. Um, I actually met Laura at your PBIs, um, event in December when you asked community members to go to the school to read. Yeah. So I actually met Laura there and the excitement she had talking about the garden, I was just like, wow. Then she was telling me all about, like, the second annual garlic festival that was happening, or I had happened like the weekend before. So the energy that you have and that you show to the children, thank you so much. And one thing she said to me that she stuck with me, she was like the the faces of the children. When they
055go outside and get to explore the garden, they actually touch the, the ground and dig and play in the, in the dirt. Um, got had me thinking. So, um, I was talking about like a story walk where, you know, you have like these, um, I would say these. Oh, it's like book deconstructed and of the kids go on a walk. And I was thinking of something like that because you guys have such nice space at Woodside that maybe, um, Doctor Ferris was talking about, like, the carpentry kids at the high school could build these stations where you can have a book, and then possibly either in the garden or by the playground would have families on the weekend go. They can every few months change the story to do a story walk. And that would
056be more engagement for the community especially, you know, that people come there for the garlic festival or whatever. I just feel like you guys have such the perfect amount of space that a story walk would be awesome and then have like, oh, Peekskill, like, you know, is no, if we have a story walk here in our own school district because I don't know any other school that has something like that. I know, like the local library does and hen, but I don't think any school that I know has a story walk. So I thought that would be, um, amazing for you guys. And um, another thing that I was thinking up was, um, our other, um, board trusts, um, know, board member Elo was talking about, um, how she was going to go to the
057school with her honors, decided to read to the kids and how so exciting that was to be. And I was thinking that was like, well, why can't the high schoolers go read to Woodside? Whether it be on a YouTube video, like we had picks, flicks like they can read to the kids so the kids can always access it at any time to help with the reading, in case there's a book that you guys, you know, you're reading, like, say, the Dot, but have one of our students or a community member read that book and show the book so they can say like, oh, that person's famous. They're they're on YouTube or something like that. And I was just thinking that co collaborations with the schools, because we do have an award winning, uh, whatever is
058that, that, that media team that the students won last year. So I thought something like that, what the studio would be, um, a great idea to engage with the younger kids. That would be amazing. And Doctor Ferris is also. Always looking for ways for us to collaborate. Um, with Austin Goldberg. He does bring over the student athletes to read to the students, but we can really expand that with, uh, My sister's keeper, my brother's keeper of the clubs. We are so open to collaborating with you guys. So thank you for those great ideas and then have it on video. So yes generations yes. Upcoming can always see it. Yes. Thanks. Okay, so now I'm just going to ask you, um, to put on your thinking cap. And uh, and so I would say we had
059if we had a magic wand and can give you anything that you you needed to help move, uh, continue to move your, uh, school forward. What would it be? I'm glad you asked that question. Yes, Mr. Woodley, what would that be? Great question. We want to know these so we don't have the one. Oh, okay. All right. If we had unlimited access, we were really talking about because we have such beautiful grounds in the back of the school to having, like, you know, those, those trailers, but with windows, you know, when they're classrooms that have to be outside, but just expanding our libraries with really rich literature, um, from different, um, cultures and things like that, just expanding, like just we want students to have as many books in their hands as possible. It's an
060art that we don't want to see die. And just for them to really have a love of reading. So I'm going to ask Miss Hawthorne and Doctor Mauricio and Carmen Creasy. But if we could get some like just it's really as many books that we could get in students hands would be a beautiful thing as well as families. Um, coming into, you know, we're working on them, volunteering more. We know there are other organizations that want to come and read to students. I know sometimes at home, it might be difficult if a parents coming in late from work, they might not have that opportunity for that quiet reading time. In Neighbor Week, we want to provide spaces like that, cozy corners and things in the school where kids can read together or with, you know,
061have an adult read to a few students at a time. But those are the kind of things that, you know, we would be focused on. And a very elaborate playground would be also beautiful if I could add that to the list. Principal Whitley, just, um, a few questions for you. Again, thank you for the presentation and for your great work. Um, I will just second the importance of having reading spaces in the school. My six year old, um, is now a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes because he got to read with his friends. Um, his friend introduced him to that in their reading time. So thank you. Um, a few questions for you that a little bit more, um, sort of like in the weeds. First is you shared a data point early in
062the presentation. I just don't get it, get to write it down. But I think it is very, um, important for us to keep top of mind. And that was the total number of students. But then the number that our general education and the number that our English as a second language and special education, if you could share those numbers again. So what I'm going to do is because of just the time of the presentation, I have shared that with Doctor Mauricio. He has we just cut down some slides, but we do have that information readily available for you. Great. Thank you. Okay. For sure. And then, um, I'm also mindful of the summer slide. I think I heard you call it Gillian, if you could speak to that briefly. Um, for any parents who might
063be listening and later, um, what we can and should be doing in the summertime to help make sure that we're keeping our kids, at least at the level that they leave, you know, their grades in to be ready for the following year. Right? So one of the things that we always talk about is when you're out with your children, the value of language, sharing, which language when you're in the stores and talking about different fruits and vegetables and just really kind of expanding children's vocabularies when you're just simply at, uh, you know, there's so many different, like exotic fruits and vegetables and things for students to learn the names of them, um, discuss, um, the flavors, you know, is it sour or is it bitter, like sharing words like that. But it's also the biggest
064thing that we want parents to know is that that 20 minutes, minimum of 20 minutes reading together at some point in the day doesn't have to be, you know, at bedtime. It could be right after dinner, before dinner, but just finding time to be together and read in any language. If your home language is Spanish, you're reading together in Spanish. You know, if it's Arabic, you're doing that. But it's really just there at an age where we really want to foster the love of reading. And if I could just mention that if any parents are having any issues with homework taking an extremely long amount of time, um, the parent leadership team is working with us, and we're going to put something out to the families to say that if. Johnny did problems one and
065two. Okay? Or if he was frustrated, just. You don't have to do all ten. You know, if it's 730 at night, you're coming from ballet, you're coming from karate. So those are conversations that we're going to continue to have, like just that at this developmental stage. It's really just setting the foundation of this is going to be, um, your job, your homework as you travel through your educational career. So we're just setting the stage. But I think in the summertime, it's just finding those things just around you. If you're at the pool, just the chlorine. What does it do? You don't like those? What does it do? How does it clean the pool? Just anywhere you are. You're just trying to find ways to have rich dialog and just finding pockets of time to read
066it. It doesn't have to be a book, reading menus and different things like that. Right? Thank you so much for that. And then last question and again, I realize we're short on time. Um, technology. I all of that big topic these days. Um, just briefly, your approach to technology in the classroom. So we use technology. It's a tool that we use within, um, the workshop model that I was talking about. So it's one component and it's about 10 to 15 minutes, but generally ten minutes on a subject area. So if the rotation is 60 minutes, um, spending time doing independent work, I have a station where I'm sitting with the teacher. Then I have, um, the zurn or the happy numbers where I'm just doing, um, a lesson on that as well. But we are
067very mindful of the amount of time and just trying to find places where it doesn't overtake. Like, I really wanted to just really say we value teacher instruction and we are working to figure out like there's some places, like I said, in literacy, it's it's in the rotation, in mathematics, it's in the rotation. But ten 15 minutes tops. Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Anyone else. Well, thank you guys for your presentation. Do you have anything else that just wanted to share? Thank you both for your leadership. Thank you, Doctor Vilas Rodriguez for supporting and all of our directors who help out um, and support. It was, um, very evident the collaborative work that's happening in your school and to our staff, uh, who make, uh, Woodside a very special place. Um, appreciate the
068comments about the data. And notice that, um, for example, in kindergarten at the beginning of the year, there was one child already reading at the first grade level. At the end of the year, 37 were reading at the first grade level, and seven were already at the second grade level. And in first grade, uh, at the beginning of the year, 12 of the students were reading where they need to be in the following September 68th in the end of the year, and 13 were already on the third grade level, uh, at the end of the year and the end of, uh, first grade. So really sharing important data. But as, uh, our colleagues have shared on the board, uh, we certainly want to continue that focus on those who need that extra support. Um, and
069what research tells us is that, uh, for English language learners in particular, to get that academic language, it can take 5 to 7 years. So we're excited to share, uh, oak sized data at the third grade level. What we found is that in our data. And we'll share this out. When students enroll in pre-K and remain enrolled, we're seeing 10 to 20 percentage point higher on state assessments when they enroll in pre-K and remain with us. And we see a drastic difference when they enroll in kindergarten, which really speaks to the value of pre-K and all the worth it. I see Melissa Russo's here and Amanda Cardona, the work that's happening at that foundational level. And to, uh, what Trustee Flores mentioned is really continuing that, that education, educational learning at home and making sure
070that we're reading with our children, that we're talking to them. There was a great study, um, about the million word gap. Um, had nothing to do with poverty, but it had to do with the ability and the time spent with parents talking to children about the grapefruit. And take them off of this. Yes. And talk to them at the supermarket and say, what's the texture like, and what does it feel like? It's coarse. And what colors inside do you feel a seed inside and all of that dialog, in addition to all the wonderful experiences that you provide, lead to academic learning and reading comprehension. And so thank you for all of that work that you do. We're excited to share, uh, greater data with, uh, with our board. And we'll make sure we get those
071reports out. Uh, the piano, uh, instruction. You will search far and wide to find piano instruction where they are learning notes. As Doctor Vilas Rodriguez shared. Thank you for bringing that to our district in pre-K and kindergarten. And what that child played was actually notes, if we noticed he was playing the notes and another kid was helping him along. So he's also learning. Yes, yes, that is true collaboration. Thank you for that piano. Um, uh, music in our in our classrooms. And lastly, Laura Perkins, thank you so much for all that you do. Uh, we see you at the schools. We see our kids engage. That is science in life. That is literacy instruction. That is everything that you do, uh, is really helping prepare and propel our kids for the future. And we thank
072you. And, uh, running low on garlic. So if that garlic festival has any, uh, left, I will certainly take advantage. Uh, but I always love being part of what you do, because we walk away with wonderful fruits and vegetables, and there's nothing like making, uh, creating and, uh, nourishing your own fruits and then having it as a meal. And so. Thank you. No preservatives, no pesticides, nothing. All natural. Thank you so much. Another big round of applause for Laura. Really appreciate you. And another big round of applause for our traders at Woodside. Thank you. Thank you. If I could just ask Doctor Kern, Monico, Carmen Vargas, and Doctor Vélez Rodriguez if you would just stand up for a minute, please. Yes, please. I just want to say thank you so much for all you do
073for us, not just said Woodside of Uriah Hill, but across elementary school. Your work is truly making an impact. To say that we are not a silo of schools, but we are one school community. So thank you for your leadership. Thank you to Woodside. Woodside, stand up one more time, please. My amazing team. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I thank all the directors and assistant superintendents for the work that they also provide. So thank you very much for this opportunity to share Woodside. Have a good night and thank you. Present villain. That concludes our presentation. If we can take a short moment of recess to allow our staff. I know you got an early morning, uh, with our children, and, uh, you're welcome to stay. Uh, but I know you have an early
074morning, so we could take a short recess while they exit out, and then we'll. Jane. Okay. She is here. So, uh, Jane Mulvey is our new thank you board for approving. Uh, thank you to our team for selecting, uh, our next phase of physical education. Teacher at Oak Side elementary. You'll see my daughter there and, uh, want to and and, uh, board president son as well. Want to recognize Jane. Mauvais. Uh, thank you for joining our Peekskill City school district team. Look forward to having you as part of our district, uh, family as well. In fact, I would like to share you joining a wonderful team and a wonderful school community. Uh, we got a notice that it's starting at 7:00 am. School starts at 820 at 7 a.m. The physical education teacher is hosting
075a special, um, uh, program for students, uh, to come to the gym early and be part of physical education. Uh, I didn't think it would work for some of our kids. My daughter and her friends, because they they tend to sleep in. But she was up bright eyed and said, we got to get to the school at 7 a.m. Uh, so thank you for that. And you'll be joining a wonderful team. Uh, and a budget. Yes, yes, yes. Uh, so, uh, we encourage, but that's the kind of that's the kind of work that our staff do. They don't have to do that work. They do it because they want to do it. And that's kind of family you'll be joining. So thank you and welcome. Um, additionally, we did approve some trips. I know I
076say this all the time, but I'm really excited every time we're bringing more trips and more donations and things like that. I think that trips are, um, I think one of the most important parts of your education is those experiences and those people who make an impact on you that last for your life. And a lot of us can remember a trip we went on. We can remember a teacher that changed our lives. We can remember, uh, a certain lesson plan or something that that was just so different. And, um, giving those opportunities to our students is one of the things that I find most important. So I'm really thankful every time we get the opportunity to approve trips and every time you guys throw those on the agenda. So thank you so much for
077everybody putting those together. I know it's not that easy to be away from your families and to go and do all this stuff and chase, you know, 30 high school students around Boston or, you know, the entire eighth grade around DC in my time. But, um, whatever it takes, I think that, um, those experiences are life changing and super important to our education system. So I'm really thankful for that. And President Valon, thank you, miss Reed and Doctor Ferris, Doctor Bedi and our colleague Madrina, our amazing robotics teacher. They're heading to Buffalo. Uh, as one of the trips you approved, uh, to engage in a robotics competition. And then they going to Clarkson University, and, as you said, Albany and Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. So we're making our way outside of the Peekskill area just
078to expand the horizons of our students to see our great state and beyond. I think we were all going to joke that you can't chaperon Buffalo. I tried because there's no running back home to Buffalo. That's right. Um, if there is no further comments, can I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting in memory of Mrs. Jenny Harrison? So moved. Moved by Allen. Second by Frank. All in favor? I any Amy's any abstentions? Great. Mrs. Jenny Harrison, whereas Mrs. Jenny Harrison serve the Peekskill city School District for 20 years with great devotion until her retirement in June 2003. And whereas Mrs. Jenny Harrison's career highlighted impactful service to the district. And Whereas Mrs. Jenny Harrison's welcoming nature demonstrated respect for all students. And Whereas Miss Jenny Harrison served the Peekskill City School District staff,
079students and families with distinction. And Be ItrillionESOLVED, therefore, that the Board of Education notes with sorrow the passing of Miss Jenny Harrison, and be it further resolved, that the Board of Education, on behalf of the entire Peekskill City School District, expresses its condolences to the family and deems that the resolution be noted in the minutes and a copy thereof be forwarded to the bereaved. The Bereaved family. Regular Meeting, Board of Education, January 13th, 2026. Good evening everyone.