001Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Peekskill City School District's Board of Education meeting. We've just left our executive session, and I just wanted to remind everybody that it's 822. The polls close at nine. So if you haven't voted yet over to Peekskill High School, you go, um, and vote on both the budget and the representatives for your school board. Um, make your voice heard for us. Thank you. And then we'll move on to the Pledge of Allegiance. And I'm now going to turn the meeting over to Doctor Mauricio for his student superintendent's report. Good evening everyone. Good evening. All right. Tonight's a very big night for our community and communities across the state. And so, uh, thank you to everyone who voted. I had the opportunity to vote at the high school, which was always
002great, and got to chat with some people on the way there and coming out as well. And so thank you to everyone who made their voice known, uh, uh, through the voting process. And again, as uh, president said, uh, there's still about half an hour, a little over half an hour, uh, for those who are watching online, if you have not voted, do not leave. Uh, leave it to others. Uh, please make sure you make it to the high school and vote. Um, with that, uh, I'm going to get going to that to one of our staff members. Uh, who is going to. I need to leave, uh, early, but, uh, to take care of our own personal, uh, uh, business. But I do want to share some very, um, great news. And thank you,
003President Villain, who, uh, texted me, uh, always great ideas, like on a Thursday. And the application was due, uh, soon after that. And, uh, we have just wonderful news, uh, that our Peekskill city school district, Hillcrest Elementary School, won the Disney musical. Uh, Grant Cole Disney musicals in schools, stage connect. And, uh, we're so excited about this opportunity. It would not have happened. Uh, first and foremost with our, uh, without our, uh, president finding this opportunity, bringing it to our attention, and then, uh, chatting about it and bringing it to, uh, um, our principal, Mrs. Hernandez, who, um, immediately got a team together and one of our amazing teachers. And she's going to tell, uh, a little bit about the story, but I would like to start with a video. So you see the concept,
004and then she will then close us out. And so, Mr. Brown, if you can share the video, uh, this video, um, will show you the it's a shortened version of it. Um, but it shows you what we had to produce in order. That didn't look like that the whole time. Uh, but it it shows you what we had to produce in order to be selected as part of, uh, in addition to an application of written text. And so, uh, we'll watch this. And Disney, my name is David Mauricio. I'm the very proud superintendent of the Peekskill City School District. I just want to share on behalf of our Board of Education myself, uh, we have a full support for our team if we are selected for this wonderful grant opportunity. Uh, thank you for creating
005this opportunity. Nationally. We are a school district that believes in the arts, and we also know that we have a great need. Our parents have asked our staff have asked for an elementary theatrical experience, and this grant will provide that. So I want you to know that if we are able to successfully receive this grant, it will be used to create an amazing experience for our students, many of whom come from other countries and speak Spanish as their primary language. And we have a wonderfully diverse community. So you have our full support from my office, the Board of Education, our administrators and our team. And with that, I would like to introduce you to the wonderful team that will make this happen. Thank you again for your consideration. Uh, today we are going to be
006talking about, uh, what it might look like for an amazing opportunity from Disney to come to our building here at Hillcrest Elementary School through an amazing show that we could possibly do here. Uh, before we get started, why don't we introduce ourselves? Sure. Hi, everyone. My name's Eliza. I'm the music teacher at Oak Side Elementary School. That's the second and third grade building in our district. I will be the director and I will be leading rehearsals, coaching, and working with students on acting and vocal performance. I'm going to be supporting choreography and coordinating the overall vision of the show. Uh, so I would be your assistant director and also the stage manager. Um, Jamie Rossi, I'm the same teacher here, but also a big area. Um, and I'm really excited to be having the opportunity
007to as they work alongside. Fantastic. I'll be the music director. Hi, guys. I'm Elizabeth. Um, I actually, I'm the music teacher here at Hillcrest, our fourth and fifth grade building. And I'm really looking forward to developing students vocal and performance skills, making sure, of course, that the music aligns with the choreography and all of the staging. Hi, I'm Randy. I am a special education teaching assistant here for best, and I will be a producer and the tech director. I'll be focusing on logistics, coordination and hopefully, hopefully creating an inclusive environment for all of our kids. Um, I have a lot of experience working with kids with disabilities. I also am a classically trained singer. I have done musical theater and I am very excited for this to happen in the state. Hi, I'm Amanda, a
008fourth grade dual language teacher, and I'll be the production manager and set designer here at Hillcrest. Um, I also have 16 years experience, um, as a circus performer and an actress. Uh, I also spend some time backstage, I clean tech, I've done choreography. Design makeup. I played several characters. I am so excited to bring that to the table. Ola Miyamoto. I am a fifth grade dual language teacher here at Hillcrest. Um. As choreographer. Create and teach movement that is accessible, engaging, and supports storytelling. Fantastic. We are also able to step into leadership roles based on our strengths, that the students will really see us support one another, which is so important and they will learn how to support each other. Yes, which is a big thing in theater. That modeling is absolutely true. And, you
009know, when we talk about modeling, uh, we would not be able to be able to support something like this if our administration wasn't able to model that support. Right. And so, um, I can say for building perspective, uh, that we will ensure that all of you, that our kids, uh, have everything that they need to be able to do an amazing performance and, and not just the performance, but go through the process of the performance and gain all of the learning that comes with being a part of the theater. Uh, and we're super excited to be considered for this particular grant. I want to thank all of you for your time and and dedication to this program. Uh, if we are to be the recipients of this amazing opportunity, uh, I know that you are
010all going to do a fantastic job. And together, we're going to create amazing opportunities for our kids here in Peekskill and at Hillcrest Elementary School. And thank you all for, um, helping us to be you. Up to your high school. And the other thing you did is he come be part of. Work. So we had to show you how, uh, the ground was selected, and you now see why it was selected. This is a shortened version of the video. Uh, but the, um, the package that was sent in was top notch, and it takes a leader to make that happen. And with that, and turn it over to Mrs. Hernandez. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, everyone. So when this wonderful opportunity came to our doorstep, Doctor Mauricio had reached out to to
011me to say, hey, do you think we can make this happen? And, um, you know, we immediately said, of course, because that's who we are. Uh, and when it has to do with the arts, all of you know, I'm a little bit biased. And so we kind of hustled to make it happen. We sent out an email to our staff to be able to say, hey, we need six people for this, um, to commit right now for a grant that we're not sure we're going to get, but we're going to figure it out. And, uh, immediately the waterfall of emails started to pour in, of people raising their hands, not even realizing what they were signing up for, but excited to bring this, uh, opportunity to our students. So that was fantastic. There were two
012phases to the grant process. Uh, the first one was a written grant that was written by, uh, Doctor Elizabeth O'Hara. So let's give her a round of applause. Uh, once we were through that phase, we received notification that we had been moved on to round two, and that's where we had to create a video. Um, the video was predominantly based on certain questions that we had to answer for Disney about the prolonging of the program, about how we would use it to help our students and to grow our feeder program throughout the schools, and a few other topics. Um, so we said to ourselves, okay, we have to answer these questions, but we have to make sure that we also show a little bit of the Peekskill promise as well. Um, and I'm not sure
013that any other school that applied for this grant had the principal and the staff member singing Part of Your World at the end, so I think that definitely set us apart. Um, I, you know, I apologize to Doctor Mauricio and everybody else that could hear us singing in the front as we were rehearsing, but we needed to make it happen. It was probably the most fun day that we've had, uh, all year. Um, and so, uh, we submitted the video, uh, and, and we were able to find out that we have been selected from hundreds and hundreds of schools across the country to receive this grant. And so we are so incredibly grateful and proud and excited for this opportunity for the students of Hillcrest. Um, but there are some thank you's in order because
014this didn't just come to be. Um, so not only do we want to thank the people that said yes, uh, to the call, uh, Randy Albarino, Lenny Alonso, Jamie Rossi, Eliza Falck, who's the music teacher over at Oak Side who is so excited to be the director for this show. Um, and, uh, Elizabeth, uh, Ohio, of course. And, uh, Amanda Nguyen. And so, uh, the rest of them are staff members over at Hillcrest, and they're excited to get this work started. Additionally, I want to thank Doug Brown, Laura Belfiore for all of their support in making that video happen. Uh, Cynthia Hawthorne for backing all of the things that we needed. And when we said we're going to need this assistance, she said, okay, we're going to figure this out. Uh, and of course, Doctor
015Rodriguez and Doctor Mauricio, who are so incredibly supportive of the arts. But first and foremost, we must thank you as a board. This board of education, since I've been here for the last 15 years, has been incredibly supportive of the arts and our students, and we are forever grateful that you support those opportunities. So, Miss Valon, thank you for sharing the information with doctor. Um, uh, and we've got this ball rolling and we're going to do big things at Hillcrest next year. So thank you so much. Thank you again. Thank you again. Best of luck tonight. Uh, to Mrs. Hernandez, who is in her, uh, district, also running for the board again for a second time. And so let's give her a round of applause for leading in her community as well. Best of luck.
016All right, so if we can do that in three days, uh, we can certainly raise some additional grants. And so we're looking forward to continued opportunities as well. And we have a couple of grants in the works as well that the leadership team, uh, to my right here has written for as well. So hopefully bring some more news as well. Would like to, uh, also recognize our, uh, students, uh, for their, their performances. Uh, the play was amazing. If you had the opportunity to see it at the high school, certainly the middle school play was was also great. Uh, Spud, SpongeBob junior. And now we'll have a Disney, um, play at, uh, Hillcrest next year. So we're really looking forward to that. Uh, but thank you to our team from the drama company. Uh, the
017Helen Hayes Youth Theater, Metro Awards. That's a big deal in Westchester. Those awards are given out there like the Academy Awards, uh, for high school students. And, uh, we have, uh, submitted, um, three nominations. Outstanding performance of a production number. The other one is Outstanding Performance by a Child Performer. And that is specifically Sarah Bloom. Um, and outstanding student technical achievement student choreographer Natalie Ortega, who also won an award at the uh Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, won a scholarship. Uh, at that time as well. And the first one, outstanding performance. Uh, this honors that number, um, the cast as a whole, a song and dance. And the song was mama Will provide, uh, sung by Marjan Webster with choreography by Nyree Lewis. Let's give them all a big round of applause and wish
018them the very best. And that also includes the New York City metropolitan area included, including Lower Hudson. So this is a big deal for our students and we wish them the very best in the process. Thank you, Laura Belfiore, for always leading that work, and we appreciate all the work that you do as well. Speaking of the engagement of our students and the abilities of our kids, I had the opportunity to attend the Uriah Hill Spring concert and it was, uh, just amazing packed house. Uh, they had to have two sessions because are so many children we have at Uriah that we have to break it up into two sessions. And, uh, families came out, uh, for this wonderful, wonderful performance. And so let's give Mrs., uh, Russo and her entire team big round of
019applause. The kids were amazing. And our families, uh, it kicks off, uh, the the start to Peekskill schools. And we include the performances as part of our efforts as well. Uh, in the same line. Hill, uh, Hillcrest spring concert. Those of you who had the opportunity to attend that packed house, I mean, it's so many people, so many performers, uh, that we had to move it to the middle school and the high school in the past. Uh, we cannot fit them in any elementary school. And they packed the stage with very little room, uh, to spare. And that's. That really speaks to the board's, um, the vision from the past and the board's vision and support. Now to make sure that all of these instruments are available to our kids from percussion strings and, uh,
020wind instruments as well. And now we have about four harps on the stage. And that is, uh, our teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School who wrote the grant. Um, and the kids are performing with her, um, a solo, uh, harp performances. It was amazing. Let's give our kids a big round of applause. Also want to, uh, thank um, uh, PTO, um, President Jan Carbo, the executive team of the PTO and our parent leadership team, each and every one of our schools have parents that are part of the, um, administration, if you will. They meet with the principal, they provide input, uh, on, on, uh, matters that are important to their school. They give feedback, they give suggestions, but they also volunteers. And they're part of the equation to make sure that our schools are the very
021best. And, uh, I want to thank all of our parents for being part of the school throughout the year. And then we also called, call them together, uh, for a very important topic. And that is technology in our schools. And last night we had, uh, board trustees, uh, that were there. Uh, uh, Mr. Frank, uh, Robinson was there. Brandon McDonald. Um, Angel, uh, Flores was there, and, uh, Christina Washington was there as well. We thank, uh, board members for being there, uh, representing the board, but also there as parents. Uh, I was there joined by Doctor Bedi and Doctor Vilas Rodriguez, and it was an opportunity for us to hear from parents, um, what their thoughts are about technology in our schools. And we thank them for taking the time. Uh, we went over because
022that's how important this, this, um, this topic is. And they will help be part of it with student input and student voice, which will be continue to gather before the month of June is over. And then also staff, uh, in particular, teacher input and principal input on technology in our schools so that we create guardrails, guidelines, communication. And we are looking, uh, to make sure that our kids are safe. Their social emotionality is protected online, but we are also using it as a resource, not supplanting, teaching, uh, but using technology in appropriate ways. And they will provide input to the board. And then we will then take that input and make decisions moving forward. So let's give our PLT teams a big round of applause and say thank you for your input. And more to
023come in our public sessions related to that as well. Last night was a wonderful night. Um. Uh, while we were in the parent, uh, technology meeting, our science research symposium was taking place. And doctor, uh, era, uh, Holly leads that, uh, wonderful, um, PSR program. And so our students got to present their projects last night. You see them, uh, right there in the center. Families came out, uh, with them as well. And so just want to say a very special thank you to all of our students. Let's give them a round of applause for being the researchers, uh, who they are, and also know that many of our researchers are working with colleges, um, and, uh, very often get published, uh, as, as coeditors to the, uh, the science research projects. Excuse me. One, uh,
024thank our esteemed director, doctor. Current what? He could, um, say thank you to him and give him a round of applause, as well as our high school principal, Doctor Ferris, as well. So thank you for keeping that work moving forward. Had the opportunity to, uh, join, um, Mr. Peters and the team who led Mrs. Iris super over to assistant principal there as well. And the team who led the National Junior Honor Society inductees. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the students academic success, the scholastic achievements, but also their citizenship and community service. Many of these students come to our Saturday Academy programs. They help clean up at the river in the community to make sure that our river is a safe space that is clean of debris. Um, and many of our students also
025volunteer at the school as well. And, uh, one of the parents had sent me a picture, um, who was there of supporting and her son was in the, um, uh, national and Society in the past. And she had noted how many more students there are. And what I noticed is the diversity of the students in this, uh, pool of students who were at the top of their game, uh, academically and, and also with, uh, uh, community engagement and character. Um, so let's give them all a big round of applause and say congratulations. We hope to see them at the high school as well. Next up is an initiative led by the Vice President of the PTO. Miss Sandra, and this is the dash of color. Uh, this is something that will be a new experience
026for me, but I'm looking forward to it. And so, um, uh, a color run is essentially you wear a white shirt, um, that you're okay with it not being white after this, uh, event, and you get to run around. Um, we'll have it at Torpey Field. And they are volunteers who actually throw powder color, uh, on your shirt. And at the end, you'll have something that looks like a tie dye shirt, uh, with powder, uh, on it and it washes out, um, etc. So I probably won't wear my white dress shirt for work. Uh, but I'm going to wear, uh, something. I'll bring my daughter with me. She'll love this opportunity. And so this is a fun activity. I got to see it online to see what it looks like and know what I was
027getting into. Um, but it is actually a really cool thing. And we're inviting all of our parents and students to come on out. And it is June 6th. The rain date is June 13th. Although I don't think, uh, hopefully no rain is coming. Uh, it'll be at Torpy field. Check in is at 10 a.m. and it starts at 11 a.m., right at Torpey Field. Uh, let's give Sandra from the PTO vice president a big round of applause and say thank you for bringing this idea. And so this is going to be a really cool opportunity for our families. Uh, lastly, want to share the last Saturday Academy of the school year is upon us. I can't believe it is going to be June when we blink an eye. Um, and with that brings the last
028Saturday Academy, and that is, um, coming up. It's going to be an outdoor activity for our students. It is May 30th, 10:00 am to 11 to 1 p.m. Um, at this one, we don't do a brunch. We actually do a barbecue cookout with our amazing staff from our kitchen staff. And so we're excited to have this, uh, final event. It always as well, uh, attended by our families. And it's an outdoor event. Hopefully, uh, the rain stays away. If not, we'll move things inside and we'll have a great, uh, program as well. We're going to have a circus there. The West Chester Circus is going to be there. So it's a great opportunity for all of our, um, family members and students to come on out. Want to give Iris to Belvedere? Melanie, doctor, Melanie,
029Roman and our very own West Come area? Oh, she's probably a yes. Doing her thing, as always. Uh, but don't want to forget, uh, uh, Kamari Mendez battle. Who are the three who lead this very important effort every single month. Weeknights, Fridays. Saturdays. Uh, making this happen, let's give them a big round of applause. Uh, last thing I'm going to share is, is that there were some, um, uh, one of our partners from some River health, um, um, uh, jaslyn sessions, uh, called us and said we really need to inform our community because there are Medicaid changes, uh, for and re enrollment into Medicaid. And if you don't, uh, complete the process, uh, within the time frame, you will lose your Medicaid services. And for our families, that is a big deal. So at Saturday
030Academy, we called all of our, um, health care partners together. Uh, Fidelis MVP, son River health. Um, we brought them together, and they are going to be there tabling and set up appointments with families to make sure they understand, uh, what the process is, and also that they are informed and can, uh, complete the process so that our kids and family members keep their health care. And that's what Saturday Academy Community Schools is all about. Fun, engaging, informative, and also keeping the whole child, whole family and in mind. And so with that, I turn it back to our president. That is our Peekskill Pride. Obviously, the pride tonight is, uh, what will happen around 915, 930 and looking forward to, uh, hearing those results. But I turn it back over to you. Thank you. Thank
031you. That was a great Peekskill pride. Um, do we have anyone for hearing of the citizens? I mean, No. Um. Okay. Well, we're always open to people coming out and speaking if they'd like to, but, um, we'll move on. Is there any old business? Any new business policy meetings? We have no policy meetings at this time. Um, yeah. Go ahead. David. So as a new business item, uh, up for, um, consent agenda, uh, our team had been working, interviewing phenomenal candidates for our school district. And we have three that are here tonight. We have Jas, uh, Jayla Kingsley, second grade teacher at Oak Side. If she can stand up, let's give her a round of applause. We are excited to have you as part of Peekskill Pride at Hillside Elementary School, so thank you for
032being part of our team. We also have, uh, Catherine Panzer Nero, uh, first grade teacher at Woodside Elementary. Please stand up. Let us give you a round of applause as well. And you're going to be at another amazing school as well and look forward to having you there. Uh, beginning first grade teaching, uh, very important part of our education. Thank you. And, uh, also, we have someone who went to our school district, uh, lives in our community as well and worked as part of a partnership through a grant, we received a five year, uh, multi-million dollar grant helping social emotional supports for our students. And he was a standout, uh, um, partner. And so, um, we tapped him on the shoulder and hope that he would interview and was successfully selected. That is, uh, social
033worker in our elementary schools. And this is, um, uh, proud moment to share. Lauren Geter will join our team as part of our Peekskill city schools. I'm looking forward to having you back in our district as well. Uh, yes. Yes. And that concludes the three individuals who are here tonight. Uh, but there's a great slate of individuals that the board will vote on who are. Uh, we may do that, but that will not be now. Think we could do percentages. Are going to go next session. So next we have accepting of the minutes. Do we have any questions or comments? Uh, can I please have a motion to accept the minutes for business meeting April 21st, 2026 and Business meeting work session May 5th, 2026. So moved by Frank. Second by Angel. In favor? Any
034nays? Any abstentions. Great. Then we'll move on to the consent agenda. Are there any comments, questions or thoughts? No. Okay. So can I please have a motion to approve consent agenda items ten A through 13 F. So moved by Brandon. Second. Second by Amy. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Any abstentions? Great. Are there any committee reports or comments? Okay. Um, so we will, uh, we will move to, uh, going back into executive session to discuss legal, so. Can I get a motion to move back into session? So moved by Amy. Second. Second by Branwen. All in favor? Aye. Any need? Any abstention. Okay. We'll be back to. To do the vote and make it legal. Let you all know how we did with the budget and who your new school board will be. Vote.
035Yes. Well, so we'll be back soon. Congratulations again to our three new employees. Who? We'll see you soon. Uh, bring your technology and what you have here. Okay, welcome back to the accepting of the canvas of votes for our school board elections. Sorry for the delay. We just had to make sure it was accurate and double checked. Triple checked, you know? Right. Perfected. So here we are with the canvass of votes. May 19th, 2026. Uh, the. Do I have to read the whole thing or just the results? Okay. So budget, uh, proposition one, we had, uh, we asked for 319 votes and no, for 45. So we did pass our budget. Um. Senate. And that would be an 88% passing, uh, rate. And then for our positions on the board brand, when McDonald's received 317
036votes. And then for right and votes, we had 59 candidates written in. And the, uh, person who received the most write in votes was Hilda King, uh, Port Tech Grubbs, with 62 votes. So for the next three years, uh, the length of term starting in July will be three year terms for Branwen and Hilda King up for grabs. Some someone comes. Sorry, I am horrible with names. Uh, so we will all have to sign this. But the votes are in and our budget has passed. Yeah. Congratulations, everybody. And congratulations, Branwen. Look forward to, uh, two more years. Um. Does anyone have anything else? No. Thank you. So we just want to thank everyone for coming out to vote. We, uh, always appreciate it. Always. You know, we may stay later, but we're always open to
037getting more votes. So come on out. Vote. Come on out. Talk to our board for anything. Um, we're really excited to have our budget pass and to see where we go next year with it. So thank you all. Um, I think that's everything. So come out to Saturday Academy on the 30th. Uh, if there are no further actions, can I. Oh, wait, I have to have a motion to accept those votes. So can I get a motion? So moved by Angel, second by Amy. All in favor? I any nays? Any abstentions? And if there's no further action, can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved by Brian. One second by Frank. All in favor? I any knees? Any abstentions? Good night everyone.