001meeting to order. Can we all stand for the pledge? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all. >> And as we were with the pledge, I just wanted to say happy birthday to the Marine Corps because today is their 250 year anniversary. So, I just thought I would say that. >> Um, can I have a motion for the approval of the minutes of our regular meeting of October 20th, 2025? >> So, move. >> Moved by Kirsten. >> Second by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Motion's carried. >> Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? >> There are none. Okay. Thank you. Board recognition, achievements, and honors. >>
002[snorts] >> Um, I would first like to um recognize that uh Commissioner Rosa's visit to our district. It was very much appreciated. Was set up by uh Joe Griffo and the students were engaged. They enjoyed speaking with her. Um it was a great opportunity for those who were able to make it. Uh would also like to uh talk a little bit about some sports. We had the girls field hockey who um were in the state championships. Unfortunately um they did lose um the cross country. They were at sectionals on Saturday. The girls placed 10th and the boys seventh. Um Luke Pelton was sixth overall and qualified for states. Uh the girls swim. Uh there was a relay team and Maddie Feny. They went to they were qualified for state qualifiers uh but they did not
003advance to the states. I would also like to recognize uh Tracy, excuse me, uh Rachel Auroric. Uh she was part of the um uh golf and was at nationals in uh Louisiana and she was signed on to be the Wilson Brand Junior um uh junior >> ambassador. Thank you. I don't know what I wrote down in my paper, but it wasn't it for the [laughter] tournament. Um I was like, "Oh." Um, and then I would also like to um point out that today and over the weekend that there was a steam punk kinetics. I don't know if I pronounced that right, but it was actually it was something that I went to earlier today. There was eight of our students that were involved. It was absolutely amazing to attend. Uh what they did is they
004took uh kind of like a back to the future type situation where they used AI um and kind of traveled back using um a photograph or you know player and they had the students work with wires and build you know these systems. Um the first one there was three of them. The first one people were able to talk to Alexander Graanbell um and anybody could ask questions. So even people in the audience were asking questions. Um they had Charles Darwin was the second one and then they ended up for the third one doing um Sherlock Holmes. So, it was quite impressive and entertaining and to see, you know, these voices from, you know, what we would think that they would sound like in the past and being able to ask them any sort of question
005and them answering with, you know, that type of logic. um you know and finally Veterans Day uh ceremonies have um you know begun and have concluded and you know I am appreciative of the schools for recognizing veterans. Um, as a veteran myself, it definitely is um is something that is very much appreciated to have support of the community and in the schools >> public comment on agenda items. Okay. None. Superintendent's report. Um I think briefly similar to what uh our vice president had mentioned um we are so grateful that the commissioner took her time along with her team at SED to visit us here in Rome and to have the opportunity to host superintendent around the area uh right here in our district. Um she had the opportunity to speak with students but also uh
006visited some classes and she was very pleased with some of the things that were going on here. And so anytime we can have Rome City Schools be on the map for positive things, it's a win. The second thing we want to acknowledge, definitely want to say that I'm very proud of the girls hockey team. This is the second time, the second year in a row where they've made it thus far and the season was undefeated until this weekend. So, we just want to let the students know, we always talk about how uh they are great students academically and in the classroom, and it's awesome that they're representing us well as well on the field. So, I just want to shout them out. Uh um and I am confident that next year that we're going to
007bring that trophy home. Um and uh this is a season of Thanksgiving, a season of gratitude. It is November and we want to acknowledge that since this is the our only meeting uh for this month, we want to let the entire community know to have a happy Thanksgiving. We know that it's late this year, but since we won't have another meeting, we want to take the opportunity to say that. And in addition, as always, we want to acknowledge different uh individuals in our community because we are an inclusive district. Acknowledge different month that are happening. We want to remind people that November is Native American Heritage Month and definitely um it is a thing to celebrate because they were the first people here. And so that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Moving on to
008our s student board members. >> Thank you. This past week we did finally have our heat of fusion. I will talk more about the lunch events while Ariel will dive into the after school. But for our lunch events, unfortunately, although I would categorize it as a lot of fun, we did not have as many student volunteers as we would like or needed to, it is something that we will definitely work on and I think can be improved with more advertisement, but I think it's just important to see where we went wrong also where we went well. On top of that, we do have our blood drive coming up on December 8th, which is a great way for our students to again get involved with things that will better our community. That will be 9:30 to
0093:30 in the school day. And PE students are allowed to get a pass to go down there and donate blood. And I think it's a great way for them to just support their community. Okay, it's on. Um, I'm going to touch on the after school events. So for our heat diffusion, we had various different sports that people could play and I was at every single day. I was running brackets, I was on mic, I was talking to every single class there. Um, and I just like to say the energy in that room was amazing. The amount of school spirit and everyone wearing heat fusion shirts with RFAS logo on it was amazing. Um, I really appreciate the participation and the long running tradition of heat diffusion. I think it's great. We actually are planning on
010adding a third heat fusion this year for winter because not a lot of people were able to sign up due to increase of teams in certain grade levels. We only had a spot for eight people to play per section and per grade. So, we're going to create a third heated diffusion this year. Um the I'm just the school spirit was amazing in those rooms. I absolutely I loved it so much. And upcoming we have our window painting on November 22nd at Rome Hospital. Um, every class also competes in a way to who has the best design and we vote on it in the staff's Instagram. Um, yeah, it's just a way to give back to the community, have some fun with our classes and create more school spirit. >> And I have one question. So,
011the lunch one, you didn't have volunteers. Did you want volunteers from the community or uh student volunteers? >> It was student based. I think just it was something new that we brought back from many years prior. So I think many students were just weren't used to the development but I think we will be able to improve quite easily on that. >> Also due to the new admin this year we were also able principal um Mr. Barton he gave us opportunity to bring these lunch events back because in previous years we weren't allowed to after co and I just like to thank him a lot. I see in the growing years that it's gonna it's going to expand very much. We had people slowly coming towards the end of the week and I feel like with
012more advert advertising and for the winter and spring ones we'll have way more participation I feel because it was just something that kids in now aren't used to >> something to that. So I just want to say um so my son participated in the heat diffusion so last week was the 16th birthday but he waited to get his permit test till today cuz he didn't want to miss heat diffusion. He's he he want he's like I can't go get my permit I got to do heat diffusion. So he had a great time. loved it. So, thank you for all the work that you did to to make that happen. >> We have a question about the uh blood drive that's going to be happening from 9:30 to 3:30. Now, is it just students and staff
013who can donate? And then is there an age like a minimum age like can a 14-year-old, 15year-old or is that too young? >> I know it is located in the school grounds. So I think it is only students that are able to go. From my experience, I have done it before last year. I think it is 16 plus with a parent signature unless you're 18, which you can of course just make that decision for yourself about your lunch hours. Just curiosity wise. So, how is that going now that you don't have cell phones? And are there activities now that you're being able to go to? >> Well, there are different places you could go to any teacher's room in the building if they don't have a class period. So, that opens up a lot of
014things, opportunities for people to get help if they need it during their per lunch periods. But, I know for myself, I stay in the staff room with Joanna and it's a really fun environment in there. I know we all play cards sometimes. It's we are socializing a lot more and I know in the lunchroom there's tables of board games and a lot of stuff for kids to do and other opportunities to go to. So it's much more lively and we're actually playing with games and not sitting on our phones. >> So I just have a real quick question. Um and also I want to well after I ask you I'll I have something to say. Um, how is the no bathroom during passing time and at the end and beginning of the day? >> So,
015I did have a conversation with Mr. Barton today about this actually cuz he does ask a lot of our input and other students input about things and I found that it is difficult sometimes to have the bathrooms locked for this duration of time. So, I tried to talk to him and see if there could be a little bit more communication, especially with the connectors because I know sometimes they don't have the right keys to the bathrooms and sometimes they wait an extra 10, 15 minutes after the 5 minute mark to unlock them and I know this creates like a sense of scarcity and people need to make lines outside of the bathroom. Um, and I feel like the hall sweeps portion of this whole thing was working. I feel like people are getting to class
016like I really appreciated that. The only thing that I don't fully agree with is the bathrooms because it does make it difficult, especially as a woman myself. When if it's an emergency or we need to use the bathroom, our only option during that time is to go to the nurse and then you have to walk to your class to get a pass, walk down. It's just not really feasible for this type of situation. So, he did say he was going to try to work on that and make sure the time's shorter now after we explained that to him. >> So, were you um because as a parent at first I wasn't I didn't understand it. I really do understand where it's coming from now. Were you explained why? >> Oh, we were explained why because
017he when before he even proposed this, he came he asked me and Joanna how we felt about it just to get our input. >> Um, and we were explained then and I started explaining to my peers too about what it was because I had the information and I think it did cut down on some sort of skipping like I completely understand that. I think I don't know if everyone fully knew when it happened, but now that the information's kind of spread, it makes more sense and it does help, but I feel like the duration just needs to be smaller. >> I know. Right. Thank you. I agree. But I I think that it's very important that he did speak to you guys and got your input and that's great. And also when we did get
018the parent square, but that it was explained better. But I just think at first it was such a >> it was a shock >> shock. But um when you're explained it and you know what's actually the reasoning behind it um and I think though there is besides the nurse though, right? Isn't there another >> there's >> or there's going to be different ones that you can go to just besides one? >> Yeah. So he was he was just talking to us today actually. He's going to try to work and see if he could supervise certain bathrooms during passing periods. Um make sure there's connectors both male and female in case there was any situation. And cuz he really wants to open that up for us. he doesn't want it to be super confined and locked
019down and you only have one position or one place to go. Um, but before there was no other option besides the nurse during that 15-minute time and sometimes it was even longer than 15 minutes cuz there wasn't very much communication with the connectors themselves. So, I know that he's definitely is trying to make that work. >> I think they were really working on Thank you very much. >> And I want to thank you both for giving us the perspective from your viewpoint. you're there and personally that's exactly why and we kind of learned that when we went to our NISBA convention when we were there I went to one about student members of the board you're the voice and we appreciate you bringing that so please thank you very much for that and don't ever
020be afraid to tell us what you think so >> okay >> and it's good for >> besides us hearing it it's very good for the students to feel that there is a voice plus you can pass on the right information cuz it doesn't always get translate you know get to the translated right or how you could say no that's not it you know what I'm saying no that's not the way it is and you understand so I think that's very important and please keep communicating with you know your peers and stuff and let them know that it's not a punishment it's not it it really it's not you know um unfortunately there's things that go on during the day that you know no one can stop at this point so Thank you very much >>
021about student voice. I forgot to mention that we started our stu superintendent student leadership council. >> Oh >> last week and so that's exactly it. Not only do they have a forum to do that at the district level, but I'm very pleased to hear that whenever you have um a question or you have something to say that you are given the opportunity and that's what the leaders are supposed to do in the buildings to be able to create that space for students to voice their concerns or even areas of strength um so that we can continue to make refinement. So, thank you for that. >> Mr. Mr. Barton, he has given us a lot of opportunity to speak on this and he's given us so many opportunities to tell him what we like, what we
022dislike about this and he's just I really appreciate that he's really open and honest with us especially to ask just for a student like combined thought about certain things. I really appreciate it. Now moving on to our workshop for the evening. um our 2024 2025 district priorities final report and pillar one implementation for 2526. I would like to invite the office of instruction um our assistant superintendent Mrs. Jennifer Duperno who would be leading that along with her team as we had talked about last year we had district priorities. This year we're calling them annual action plan and that was the start um of us being able to say what we have had is not good enough and it is important that instructionally we are super focused and so we'll talk about some of the progress
023that we have made but we know one year is not enough to be able to do all of the things that we desire to do so that you can see um the large impact of change but it was a start and it is important that you see that we're making progress so that you know that was laying the foundation was our focus uh last year and we're going to continue with our strategic plan along with our annual action plan. With all of that said, I will pass the baton on to our office of instruction folks who are amazing at what they do. They juggle things every day. People don't see behind the scenes all of the hard work and all of the stress um to be able to help the buildings move forward. So, I'd
024like to yield the floor. >> Thank you. and good evening uh board members and uh the Rome community. So, we're excited to actually report on our district priorities uh more specifically to talk about um the fact that it actually um provided us with our northstar and given us direction uh as a district. Our entire district and all of our buildings were guided by our two pillars and priorities last year. So what it allowed us to do is move with move with um intentionality. Um and so that every single time we looked and approached or had things come our way, we asked ourselves two questions. Is it good for students, all students? And then also does it align with our district priorities? So this year uh as superintendent Anal said we're implementing a datadriven um last
025year I'm sorry last year 2425 was our first year of really looking at a data data driven decision-m system um and while we know the data pieces we want to talk about at a high level tonight because this document is very um a lot of information in it. It went from three pages to eight pages. So we have a lot of information in here good information that we are so excited about. Um but we want to talk about um some of our celebrations, obviously opportunities for growth and our next steps which are in alignment with our school action annual action plan and district annual action plan this year and how they tie in together. So I have my team up here tonight and at uh our first uh one that we're going to talk about
026our objective Dana is going to bring us through um the very first one. >> Hi, good evening. Um, so are we showing the second one? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Okay. So, uh, it's a lot of information that you can't see, so I'll I'll speak to it, but, um, what our big takeaways for the first target was around our growth in both ELA, uh, and math for preK to 8. And we used our, uh, data point for that was our star um, reading, star phonics, and star math assessments. uh we saw that there was growth for um all of the areas. Uh you'll see um in our phonics and our reading we moved up to 72% 66% 64% in math and then um our students with disabilities also grew. Um so early literacy they grew
027in 50% star reading 54% and star math 53%. So everybody grew and that is uh really the direction that we are moving. everybody's using the same data sets, everybody's looking at the same information, and we're able to compare ourselves um across all the buildings. Um I think a big piece that we talked about for our next steps for coming into this school year is really thinking about how are we um re uh delivering some real comprehensive in-personal in-person uh professional development across all of our Renaissance suite. Um that is our data set. So, how are we going to align both the assessment practice uh within that platform with the practice platforms so that it's an alignment for what students are needing to ensure effective implementation of both tier one but also tier 2 supports. Um,
028and we also wanted to look at what does our special education population need different than the gened population to really hone in and target on not only their just proficiency and growth targets within STAR, but also in alignment with their IEP goals. And so really customizing and planning some professional development that's going to look specifically at what they need um as a specific population. Um what I'm most excited about for this upcoming school year is our implementation of our indist renaissance consultant. Uh she is in district with us four days a week and she is really targeted for the staff, teachers, administrators. She's there to provide some real individualized personalized professional development, help teachers coaching in the classroom as they're implementing the products, as they're assessing their students. Um, she's also able to sit down
029with the administrators and look at the data and really understand what needs to happen next for their conversations um, with their staff and really help provide that um, hands-on support um, for them. She in addition to that, she also rolled out um, some professional development over the summer. She's also offering it on all of our superintendent conference days. And then she is also scheduling some virtual PD after school uh and some targeted products based upon feedback that teachers have reached out to her. She sends out a survey every month and asks what questions do teachers have and then she um responds by providing that targeted support for them either in their classroom or through professional development. Uh yep. And then number two uh was really so target one was around growth and target two was
030around proficiency. Um and so obviously before we can have proficiency we have to have the growth and so we did see growth happening um at the top and then at the bottom um again our students grew to proficiency. So they went um from for star reading this is grades 2 through 8 they went from 32% to 58% which was fantastic growth. And then for math, they went from 38 to 59%. Um, and then our students with disabilities went from 6% to 14%. Um, and 5% to 14% in math. >> And that's Melissa, right? Almost. >> Okay. [clears throat] So, in addition to um number two objective, we also have our percentage of students meeting exceeding proficiency for our three through eight New York State assessments. So those first two about were about STAR and they
031can predict where kids will land um potentially land on the New York State Assessment. So while some of the growth we did not see um in STAR as big as we wanted to because that program um moves with the students. So as they start getting things correct, it starts getting harder and harder. But what that did was prepare them for the New York State um assessments. And so one of our big wins, as you can see, we wanted to go up by 10%. And in ELA, and that is a big jump, right? So if you get 5% that's great. 10% that's what we wanted to go for. So everybody was really trying to go for that and as you can see or not see because it's so small. Um but I will be attaching this
032to the weekly briefing so you can really digest this. Um so we went from 19% to 26% in ELA and that is a really big win for us in one year. We have never accomplished that in one year growth on New York State Assessment. Um we also see in math that we were at 27 um and we went to 25% and all of us in the office of instruction as well as superintendent know that this is year one of implementing imagine learning math. Um so when you have a new curriculum it takes about 3 years for you to go through that cycle. So we expected either to stay um even or to have a little bit of a slide. Uh so also the one thing that I wanted to point out too uh is the
033New York State assessment and we all saw the videos and all of the um publicity that was put out there about show what you know and our testing campaign. We must must must continue to do that. Um very proud of uh what our uh district was able to do and we went from 79% to 86%. So, I broke down for you to um be able to see later that some of these um buildings in ELA and math and science, they had 100% attendance. Um so, we had some buildings that only had one student that wasn't there. But what I want to explain is that when this comes out for New York State, what they don't tell you is that students um obviously with absenteeism, we didn't have as many opt outs, but any student that's
034on your roster and then leaves the district and doesn't take that test, they count against you. So, there's some real um interesting things in the data, and I wanted to make sure that you understood that. And also with our out of district placement kids, they also are a piece of that. But this is our in-house numbers and it's just incredible that some of these were able to move from 86 to 92% um attendance, 88 to 98%. So across the district, they really really worked hard. And where this comes into play is when um at the end of the month, they're going to give us our designations for our schools. And so it's two pieces, right? So it's your proficiency, it's your growth percentiles. Really excited about those growth percentiles. And fantastic news that in some
035of our schools, our actual students with disabilities are a level two and the state considers level two safe and and um significant growth. Right? So you want threes and fours, but we have um our supported our special education students that actually attain twos in some buildings. They actually were able to get a three in their growth percentile. So that's brand new in the actual um configuration of the identific identification of the school. So growth is really good cuz we know that our students were growing. The second piece of that is going to be this participation rate and we really did knock it out of the park. And what that does is now that we don't have students that are not sitting in those seats, what happens is that waters down your testing score. So if
036your proficiency is kind of borderline and then you also have your growth percentile, if the students are in chairs, that counts against you. So what they do is that percentage now goes down because you didn't have as many kids taking the test. So, I'm excited to see what's going to happen at the end of the month with our schools that are identified if we're going to maintain or change categories um with that specific um can I ask one question on that? >> So, what would you attribute to the greater number of students taking the tests this year? >> I honestly would attribute to um districtwide message everybody was on board from the district office through the buildings. And if you haven't seen those videos, they are they were our students talking about show what you
037know, getting excited, getting their classmates excited. So, it was constant where they were coming out with something new. Um, and we were always making sure that it was uh communicated through the newsletters and parent square and really educating them about why it's important for them to actually come out and show what they know. And I agree um sorry I agree with that because for a long time it wasn't um projected properly and it wasn't um sent out you know where you understood why I think it was so a lot of people were opting out where um now that it's been out there and like you said the publicity of it the kids telling the other kids let's get excited about these tests you know and knowing the real reason behind these really makes a watching
038some of the high school students. We didn't prompt them um you know when we were doing the campaign. Some of them talked about how they have not had to take those exams since they were in elementary because parents were not allowing them to take it and how difficult it was now that they were in high school to pass the regions. Um because if they had those practice during elementary years, middle school years, it would have been better. So to hear directly from them about how difficult it was that for them to make that transition to high school where now you have to take regions and you haven't had practice. Um that that was good to hear. And so that's why Jen is encouraging everybody. We have those videos. We will continue to push that. The
039participation rate in terms of students sitting for the exams are very important not only for now but also for the future. um because even out there in the world sometimes you have to take to pass the test, right? So, it is important that they have practice. Good point. I'm now going to have Melissa come up and talk about um the regions exams and then our next steps are what we're going to be doing to obviously um put supports in this area. So, our regent exams this year, um, we did not make the growth that we anticipated. Um, but again, I'm going to go back to the idea that this is our first year really implement implementing the datadriven decision-m. So, um, in algebra and geometry, earth and space and biology. So, earth and space and
040biology were two new exams. Um there was a lot of controversy over both of the exams throughout the state. And so um our passing rate was 48% for earth and space and um 32% for biology. So um geometry we were at 56% and algebra we were at 26%. So, we took a look at that data and um really kind of dove into what that was telling us and that really drove our next steps for this year and what we were looking at. So, prior to the kids taking the test again in August, we established a regent review for them to come in two weeks prior to the regent exams to really have an indepth review to prepare them for um that regent. and we had over 400 students who came in August to um take
041exams and we had almost 50% of them [clears throat] actually pass and get the credit for that. So that was really great. We also did a regent [clears throat] review um a boot camp for labs. We had a significant amount of students who did not make the requirement lab eligibility to sit for the regents. And so we opened up a two-eek period where students could come in to make up those lab experiences so that they then could sit for the regions in August. So with both of those things that really helped to bring up our scores for our students. Um but we still want to dig in deeper and identify you know why why those scores were so low and what we're going to do to kind of um help for that. So, we are
042looking at um offering in January um we're looking into offering more review for regents after school prior to the January regent exam to really prep those students to get ready for the January exam. We are testing all of our 11th graders again for ELA. Um and that helps significantly with our pass rate for ELA because they had the opportunity in January and then again in June. So that really gives them kind of you know that double safety net to make sure that they are proficient and get that score because that is an absolute graduation requirement. [laughter and clears throat] Um and then as far as um you know sitting down with the team after all of that was said and done in September we did an afteraction review to really talk about what did the
043boot camp look like? What were some things that went really well? what were some things that didn't go well and that we need to improve on. So, we have a whole list of different things that we're going to implement for next year um to really um you know enhance the experience for the students and to get more students in. Obviously, transportation is our biggest issue. So really working with the transportation department to see if we can even have hubs at certain areas within the community to pick up groups of students to bring them for the review prior to the test. So we you know we we're definitely going to start implementing some of that and putting things out earlier to the students so that they are aware of it. Um, and also giving very specific
044letters home to families saying, "Your student needs to pass regions X, Y, and Z. They're on these date and times. You know, please sign them up for these exams rather than just a blanket email going to everyone, but really targeting certain students who need that support." >> Okay. You think we should address the math? >> Yep. And um as Jen mentioned, last year was our first year of a new math program in elementary. So to specifically address the dip in the math um scores, we are planning on this year we're rolling out uh enh uh intensive enhanced uh in-person trainings with Imagine Learning, which is our math program. We also are um amping up our uh collaboration with Moboseis and having our in-house coach coming in spending she's here every month in classrooms uh visiting
045classrooms helping teachers modeling lessons working with the administrators um so that they truly understand um the new math curriculum. It's a shift. It's I think I spoke about it in previous years. It's that project based math. So rather than just uh learning math facts, you're really thinking about how am I approaching math from a problem problem based lens and and and finding the entry points in that way. And it's a different way of teaching and it's also a different way of learning. So um we are seeing a increase in math discourse in our classrooms that they're implementing it now, but it's it's going to take some time to see it results in in testing. So we wanted to increase that that um PD for them for that. All right. Next one. All right. So the
046third area here was to support teachers in engaging in and utilizing relevant curriculum aligned to new standards and assessment. So our targets for this was to make sure that geometry, earth science, which is earth and space, and living environment, which is now biology, are all fully aligned to the new standards. Um, and the percentage of high school students attaining the essential credits for graduation. So every year students have to obtain a minimum of 5.5 credits. So in terms of the curriculum um geometry, earth and space and living environment have all revamped their curriculums. They are aligned to New York State standards, nextgen standards. They are implementing all of their science investigations. Um and so that is all set. On top of that, we are also implementing uh common formative assessments not only in the math
047and science areas but in all curriculums. So, I worked with every department this summer to really revamp to make sure that everyone had pacing guides, scope and sequence, and curriculum written. And then also adding in a piece for learning targets, success criteria, and common formative assessments. And what those common formative assessments do um is they are designed to really target a chosen standard. Um so you you you choose your standard, what you want to assess. Every student takes that particular assessment and then the department looks at those assessments to really dive in and look at the data to say where are we falling behind? What standards are they not attaining and how are we going to retach before we move on so that students have that information so that they can build upon that as
048they move on through their curriculum. So that's the work that we're currently working on this year in terms of next steps for curriculum is building the common formative assessments and doing data analysis. I'm doing data analysis meetings with all the TC's um the teacher coordinators for the departments. So then they bring that back to the department and we really start having those datadriven discussions right in department meetings which will be gamechanging I'm hoping to make sure that we're we're staying in line with the standards. >> Mhm. So the next piece of the puzzle um that we have obviously uh very judged by our graduation rate and when I first came on board uh as a director of secondary programs um what I found was that we had students that were pulled in the 9th grade
049and they were not moving on cohort. So we talked specifically about cohort and what that means and breaking it down to say you have four exits to get off the highway. We all can't stay at the first exit. everyone has to continue to go on otherwise once we get to that fourth exit and we're not off that's our determination that we're going to get penalized for. Right? So we are breaking it down and saying that the kids have to move with their cohort. So when a nth grade comes in it always remains that year that graduation year regardless of whether or not they have the credits. So after we reversed that system and that mindset, um we were doing the 5.5 in generating these lists of students that were not on credit. We had over
050400 students that were considered 9th graders. It was like 460. And so based on our graduation classes, they are under 400. So we had a lot of students that were misplaced. So it took some time. Um and then over that period of time, we take a look at this data. So this is what we looked like last year um for our 9th grade cohort. Uh there isn't any data at first. Do some of them come up with credits from um Stra, but it's not enough to consider them not a freshman, right? So you know more than 5.5. So there's no data available when they first come in. They ended the year at 76% of our students were on credit. So, our current 10th graders that now are sitting um in RFA, 76% of them are
051on credit and we have 24% of them that are actually at risk. And so, also with our 10th grade, we had 86% and now we're at 76%. So, in their 10th grade year, um what happened with them is they obviously lost 10% of our students. It wasn't a lot of students in terms of losing them and being on credit. Um, and some of them are just missing those. It only takes a handful when you're talking 10% of 300. Um, so we also look at our 11th grade students and 88% went down to 76%. But what I really want to put point out um is that our 12th grade students um they did come in at 80 and they maintained and so our graduation rate at the end of August we moved um our graduation rate
052from 23 24 which was 74% and we now are going to look at RFA having an 81% for the 25 242 school year. Um so the intentional piece that they put in place underneath the district improvement plans um up at RFA they actually had a tracking document. So previously to Melissa arriving what I did was send them an actual spreadsheet with these students and then from that they did a tracker to make sure like what are we doing specifically? These are our most at risk students. So, we're going to maintain that procedure and process there so that all hands on deck in every single class. 24% of our students are not on grade level. Um, so right there we're emphasizing with the counselors and also with the teachers and the administration that our students are
053at a 76% graduation rate if we do nothing right now. Um, so what I'll have Melissa do is talk about what that looks like up at the high school and how they're actually um going to be addressing that situation so that we can actually move these students into their grade and into the correct um credits for their grade. So a lot of the um meetings that I have up at the high school, I'm at the high school my designated day is Thursday, but I'm there a lot more than just Thursday. So um but on Thursdays I meet with the school counselors and we look at that at risk track sheet um every time we get together and we [clears throat and cough] excuse me we talk about the students. The biggest issue we see is
054attendance. So it's not really kids coming to school and not passing, it's kids not coming to school. And so the new conversation that we're starting to have is what interventions are we putting in place for these students who aren't coming to to school. What outside agencies are we reaching out to? Links, referrals. Um we've got Jim Soja now who's offered to come in and meet with our counselors um to talk about different outside agencies that can assist us to get these kiddos into school. So those are the conversations that we're having. And you know, for us as a team, it's not a percentage. These are kids that are not coming to school and doing I don't know what during the day, but they need to be in school. And so we're going to be doing
055everything we can, whether that's home visits, whether that's modified schedules, um getting them on track with the Edmenum courses for credit recovery, um and really trying to address those issues before they get worse than they are. So that's kind of our main focus. So every Thursday I go in [clears throat] and we usually meet from like 9:00 to 11:00 on Thursdays and just talk about these atrisisk kiddos. uh once our MTSS program is in place and fully functioning that that will be a big part at RFA the MTSS program will that will address a lot of that and what interventions we can put in place um and then to carry on with the curriculum piece as far as our next steps. So, one of the big things that we're working on this year for curriculum,
056we've aligned the curriculum, scope and sequence, pacing, common formative assessments, and now what I'm going to be doing starting in December is going to department meetings and talking talking about the um culturally responsive sustaining education and looking at units of study to specifically look for, you know, are we addressing multiple cultures in the books that we're reading, in the articles, that we're reading. Are we looking at modernday literature and not just what we all read when we were in school because they're still reading those books that we read when we were in school. Um, English made a lot of changes to their curriculum and they're now giving kids choice in what books they read instead of the whole class reading one book. For example, they get to choose from maybe five or six different books.
057Um, so there's some big shifts that are going to be taking place in the curriculum and the um, CRSSE has a lot to do with that. So really taking a look at specific units in every whether it's math, social studies, English, really taking a look at those units and making sure that everything is culturally relevant and that we're exposing our kids to multiple different cultures and not just what we used to do. So, that's a really big push that we're going to start um as far as next steps go. >> TSS, what does that >> multiple tiered systems of support? Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> You want to talk about second? [clears throat] >> Yep. So um two two of the things that we implemented last year that we were well one
058of the things we implemented last year and one of the reasons that we saw so much growth especially at the middle school for ELA and math was um the use of freckle which the kids hated but it really targeted um they they used to complain about all the time oh we got we have to do freckle >> at the leadership also they were like we're freckled out >> we're [clears throat] freckled out um but they did it once a week so it quite a bit, but it's targeted interventions for the students based on what they need. So, they identify the gaps within the STAR assessment and Freckle allows them to practice where their gaps are and it really helps to close those gaps. And once the teachers really explained the purpose behind why they're [clears
059throat] doing it, the kids really started to catch on and were like, "Okay, I see that I'm improving. I see things are getting better." And so they're continuing with Freckle. And then one new thing that we are implementing, we have a pilot going on right now at the high school is a system called Linket. So Linket is um it's an assessment platform and it houses questions from state assessments, regions exams, and you can upload your own questions. It organizes them by standard. And so the teachers can go onto this platform and say they want to do um you know standard ELA 11.3 and it'll give them a plethora of questions to choose from on that standard and they can build that assessment. The kids can then take the assessment either online or paper and then
060they upload the data. If it was on paper, they upload the answers back into the computer. And the beauty of this is it gives them these beautiful graphs and printouts of exactly where the kids are. So it's going to help tremendously especially with the common formative assessments and it's going to really help the teachers to hone in on what the kids need specifically and individually. So those are two areas that we're really going to hone in on and use that datadriven decision- making to move kids forward. Yeah. >> So, one of the main things um for objective 4 was the implementation of the school improvement team. So, uh superintendent Nel and myself went out initially and had those initial meetings and then throughout the rest of the school year I would meet with them um
061by like bimonthly try to get out there between um six and 10 weeks. This year it will be six week cycle. Last year as we talked about it was our first implementation and by the time we were completely done going through the process with them we were at the end of November. So that system allows um myself to go and meet with the um administrators and the building administrators and actually go through their plan, talk about what they're seeing, looking at their data, having those intense data conversations to see where they're going to pivot, where what is going on specifically, have they dug deeper into the data, what kind of supports do they need? Also wrapped into professional development. A lot of conversations came about that way to say, I'm noticing that I'm going to
062need some more tier one instruction, professional development. So therefore, we would bring in some of those coaches and the and the partnership that we have with the Boseies to come in specifically for math um to work with some of the teachers. So um we also I'm going to have Dana talk uh briefly about one of the systems that we're putting in place um with Renaissance, which is Edgeclimber, so she can explain what that is. Um, and at some point I will absolutely show you how amazing that it is. Um, but tonight I just want her to mention uh what that particular piece is with Renaissance and where we're going with it. Um, so Edge of Climber is our MTSS platform and it takes every single data point that we have on every single child in
063the district and houses it all in one system. So I could pick up a child in a classroom um, and pull up their uh, whole history. It goes all the way back to when they have been in prek. Um, and it gives all of their report card data. It gives every um, uh, data point within STAR. It gives all of their attendance. It gives incidents. It gives literally everything that you need to know about that child's profile. What's nice about it is that we [clears throat] can then come together as data uh, teams within the buildings. Administrators can bring together, which they've started this year, is to bring together all members of a specific grade level. They pull up the data wall for that grade level and they look as a whole to say where
064is our kids where are our kids um functioning right now. Um similar to what u Melissa mentioned about the common formative assessments in the in the secondary we are also implementing that within the elementary school and it's being housed in educ. So not only are you seeing where they are falling on data points for tier one instruction but you're also seeing tier 2 you're seeing tier three data you're seeing our benchmark data. you're seeing attendance so that when they're coming together for conversations, they can say, "This kid is really struggling here. It's all red, but then we're also noticing they're not in school." Um, and so then we can have a different conversation. How do we approach this? It's not that they're not learning in the classroom, it's that they're not here in order to
065obtain that information um and really grow. So the the platform uh we rolled it out with our administrators so that they can lead the conversations with their buildings and then we rolled it out with our RTI providers, our tier 1 facilitators so that they're able to also have those data decisionmaking uh conversations as part of the team with their principal. Uh we are training the rest of our staff as we roll it out um and as needs come up. But as soon as we can finish out the other social emotional side of the MTSS, that will be in there as well. Um, and you'll have the whole child at a fingertip, which is nice. And then for us as a district level, we can then also run data for the entire district to say how
066are our students performing um as a whole, for the whole district by grade levels, by buildings, where do we need to address, and maybe provide some additional supports. Um, so it's a it's it's it's a wonderful we can't wait to be able to show it to you because it is a you can get lost in the deep data dive. >> So I just want to add to that what that translates to is that we no longer have to actually well right now until it's done um we don't have to request a data project or wait like a week before we can get everything done. That's how things have been done in the past in all school districts. So for us, we now have this ability and it's going to be at our fingertips and so
067we don't have to do that and we have like the complete plethora of data. We're going to go into transition into transitions for um objective five and what we're doing at those key transitions between preK and K and 6 to 7 and then 8 to 9. >> Why don't you started me? >> Yeah, with preK. >> Okay. Um so for preK we have always established uh transition meetings between all of the pre-K teachers and the um kindergarten teachers and all of the elementary buildings. Um and so this year New York State came out with a um toolkit for prek programs to use. And so our prek program utilized this toolkit and the feedback that we received from the elementary buildings is they really appreciated the format that um was provided. uh they had individual meetings
068with everybody provided at risk. We always have an at risk uh spreadsheet of kids um moving into the kindergarten classrooms and then we also provide this um uh form for those transitions. We also in addition to having those transition meetings with the teachers, we offer a open house for all incoming prek um and kindergarten families in the summer in August that aligns with our kindergarten and pre-K screenings. And then for our pre-K families, because they are brand new families into the Rome community, we offer a specific orientation just for the families. So, they are understanding what it means to be part of a school. Um, that it's not that you're dropping your child off at child care, but they're here to learn. Um, and what are the expectations of being part of the school community?
069>> I have Oh, go ahead. Sure. >> One question quick. Um with that said, so now screening seems to be a lot different now than it was previously. Is that um district or is that state? >> So the state requirement is the first 45 days of school is when students have to be screened. So many years ago they used to do it in the spring. >> No, no, no, no, no. Not the screening, the actual stuff that you're screening for them to get into preK and I mean to uh kindergarten now. It's not the same. uh we use the bance screening and so it really is a developmental it's a broad developmental context to say can do children recognize their body parts do they know their first name >> we don't do potty training anymore
070though >> that's not a requirement children do not need to be potty trained to enter into school >> so all the years before that was just implemented by the districts that you had to be >> potty trained >> I think it might have been a thing back then >> I'm not I'm not sure it it is it has not been for quite >> [clears throat] >> for quite a few years, at least for the entire time that I've been here. So, for at least 8 years, it's not been a requirement for any child to be potty trained to come to school. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Transitions for >> So, transitions at the secondary level. Um so at Stra um there were a lot of um datadriven transition
071meetings with the elementary building leaders and the middle school building leaders and then they organized um visits to Strow during the school day. So the sixth graders, every sixth grader got an opportunity to get on the bus and go over to Stra and they would go in and they would have a meeting with the building leaders and the school counselors and then they had um student leaders taking them around put taking them on tours to kind of introduce them to the building. So that kind of was step one for that transition. And then we did identify some atrisisk students who we were concerned about transitioning from 8th grade to 9th grade and offered the uh summer school that we had this year the enrichment program for them to kind of help and prepare them for
072um you know high school. And then in the summertime in August there were open houses at Stra and RFA for students to go they would sit in a meeting listen to the building leader and then get their schedules and be able to go around the building. identify where their classes were and just become a little bit more comfortable with the building space. This year for next steps, um Mr. Barton and Mr. or have talked about having those targeted discussions about students prior to August so that before school opens we can have those you know come have lunch with the building leaders come you know just to introduce these students who we feel are at risk to bring them a little bit of comfort before they walk into RFA it's very overwhelming for a young student
073to walk into that building so to bring a level of comfort to them So, they're talking about doing some of those introductions prior to the beginning of the school year. So, we're hoping that will help with some of the um anxiety that kids have about going up to RFA. Um and then we are continuously looking at the data from the eighth grade students and really targeting for specific scheduling um and what classes they need. and we have multiple classes that we're thinking about, you know, combining for next year for repeaters, students who have to repeat a class and what that looks like. So, those are all data driven driven discussions that will continue on into next year. So, for the transitions, I just want to add that what is also going on at the building
074level. So, this is just really the three that we are focusing on. Um and again it's the first year of really taking a hard look at what we have in place and you know procedures and protocols they need to be written um and ex and expanded upon. So this new school year is going to be continuing to take a look at that making sure that we get this in print so that everybody understands what's going on at these key areas. And also at the building levels they are actually um having grade level meetings. So when they go through um grade level to grade level they're meeting with the teachers within those buildings. They're talking about those academic strengths where how does the how does the student actually learn? We've shifted from identifying behaviors and identifying
075the whole child um and how they can have those educational conversations and there are protocols and forms that they have that they use in the elementary schools. Um the one thing that I w would would like to say um that working with uh the PTG uh in the different buildings uh Superintendent Ensel has mentioned that in its infancy that they're talking about getting the PTGs to potentially get together and have conversations about the sixth grade and what that might look like. Um bringing those students earlier to do some activities prior to next year. And so it's kind of an idea that's been popped out of the box a little bit and it's potentially going to grow some legs and um work with the administrators to help support that because bringing them together earlier is uh
076what a great idea. Um and I hope that this I will be fully behind that to help it come to fruition for sure. uh to bring those kids earlier than the first day of school at Straw when they're all in together 350 students. Um this uh is the end of our academic and rigor pillar for uh pillar one. We do have uh all of pillar 2 is also completed for this document. It will be in the briefing on Friday, this coming Friday, so that you can really digest. There's a lot of amazing information in here. Um it's hard to see it uh where you're at right now, but full details of what we did um this school year, how we're going to move forward, which is in alignment with our school annual action plan. Um
077and also we'll be pub um published on the website with the rest of the final plans for all the buildings and the district will be there and shortly after that we'll have our um SAPS up there for our school annual action plan. Do you have any questions? >> Yeah. Um, first I just wondered if we Melissa, I don't know if we know for the like was there a statewide average of when you talk about the algebra, the geometry and the biology because it was my understanding that all over the state those were not. So es the um the algebra, biology and earth and space were all very low. I think the so I think the um average for algebra was about 35%. Which is really low. Um earth and space earth and space was even
078lower and biology was lower. So, I'm I I don't I I don't want to give you the wrong numbers cuz I don't know exactly, but they were all very low across the state, especially the biology >> um was the lowest that we've seen in years for bio. Um so, there was a lot of concern about the biology exam. There were a lot of articles written. There was a lot of not so nice mail being sent. Um yeah. So, yep. Across the state, low scores. >> Okay. >> Yep. Um, and the only other thing was I wondered as we're transitioning students from grade level to grade level if we do notice as you said a student who's having difficulty but we can look now and say part of it is attendance. I'm sure those are conversations
079then we bring in the parents to have with them before they transition over. >> So I can speak a little bit to that. So um, Mr. Mr. Burton and I have already been discussing for next year. Uh, and that's one of the reasons why he really wants to meet with Mr. AOR early on to get those list of kids who we're concerned about because there are things we can do, right? We can do a modified schedule. We can bring them in. We can have them have a safe adult where, you know, we can introduce them to um, one of the counselors or social workers to really make them feel more comfortable. introduce them to the connected community workers. So, there's a lot of different interventions that we can put in place prior, but we have
080to know who they are. Um, and obviously the parents will be a big part of those discussions. Yep. And the third thing I just wanted, it's more of a statement. You know, people in our community and overall often talk about teachers just going in and they're just doing their job and administrators every day. And I just want to say, you know, these are the kinds of presentations when you give them that, and I thought this 20 years ago when I was on the board previously, the average person doesn't understand the amount of time and effort that actually goes into even a teacher's day understanding on the standards, how many kids are in those different levels and the datadriven decisions that get made behind the scenes. And I just want to compliment all of you and
081all of our staff to say it's a huge undertaking. And as a board, we're here to support you and to thank you for what a job that you do every single day of for the breath of knowledge and information that you bring forward. And I do hope the general public looks at what you presented and listens to it today and understands how difficult it really is. and I I can't thank you enough on the behalf of the board for all that you do do for us and it goes through the whole administration all the way down through the teaching staff. So I did want to just say that. So >> thank you. Thank you so much. >> And it's not easy anymore. >> You don't get the support. >> No, it isn't easy. So thank
082you very much. >> Can I can I The other piece I think that's an important piece that um I'll allow the team to talk about. We talk about students and see looking at the whole child, but we also want to make sure that we give honor and name uh the support that we are providing to the teaching staff. And so if they can start talking because we are doing some great teachertoteer leadership development. So it is important that they talk about that because when we talk about next steps cuz remember last year was the stepping in stone. The work doesn't stop. we build upon that work. And it is important when we look at strategic pillar three about support and access. It's about support and access for everyone. And so I'd like you guys to
083talk a little bit about all of the work that we did this summer to create that teacher leader pipeline to be able to support other teachers so that they feel like they have collaborators that they can collaborate with because the best way to learn is to learn from another peer. So, if you could talk about that and some of the work that we're doing right now cuz it's great work and the rigor walk that you guys do, please do that. >> So, um this summer we put uh we well I guess the end of last year we put out and we asked for teachers to apply to become a peer collaborator. And a peer collaborator is a teacher who is willing to open their classroom and allow other teachers to come in to watch what
084they're doing in their classroom. A peer collaborator goes into other classroom to give feedback to teachers on their um what they're doing in their classroom. And so they applied. We have 24 peer collaborators throughout the district. and we've done a lot with them already. Um they were trained in the rigor walk. So rigor is uh relationships, instruction, goals, organization, and relevance. That's what the acronym stands for. And that is what the administrators are using for their walkthroughs this year. And we trained all of our peer collaborators and coaches on the same walkthrough. And so Dana and I are working with Mitch, one of our coaches, um to perform these rigor walks with teachers in buildings. So Dana did a rigger walk recently in um in Bellamy and it was smashing. The teachers loved it. We
085gave great feedback and we're only giving positive feedback peer-to-peer, right? It's all positive. Um I did a rigger walk at Stra and had the um secondary teachers did walkthroughs at Stra and we went into classrooms where we also have another group of teachers who we're working with and they're called instructional improvement teams and these instructional improvement teams are working to shift instruction from traditional teacher centered instruction to student centered instruction. And so these instructional improvement teams at Stra voluntary um I had one team sign up, the Emerald team. Go Emerald. Um they signed up right off the bat. They did it and it has made a huge difference in their classroom. It's all student centered. The kids are doing all the work. They're taking ownership of their learning. And so during our learning walk, I
086had the teachers go to those classrooms to see the great stuff that was going on. It was amazing. And then we have more learning walks planned. one for RFA, denty and stra again >> and prek um in December. >> Yes. >> Just mention what it's aligned to the rigger walk. >> So the rigger walk is also um I was trained last year in the rigor walk with um when I went on professional development and it is all aligned to our strategic plan and the portrait of graduate and cultural responsive and sustaining education. So everything is aligned. It all fits in. It follows exactly what the district plan wants. And the teachers all have the rubric. And every faculty meeting at the beginning of the year, the building leaders explained what the rigger walk was. They
087were all trained and then they explained it to the teachers. Teachers got a copy of the rubric. So they know if this week teach the building leaders are looking at relationships, they know that's what they're going to be looking for. or if it's instruction or goals or whatever, they know when they're walking around doing the their walkthroughs that that's what they're looking for. Um, specifically, they're all aligned to our strategic plan. >> Great job. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. Good evening. Um to follow up with the curriculum, um you know, we can't help support our students without financing. So, um tonight I'm going to speak a little bit about our reserves and how we hope to um continue to move our financing forward. I'm going to just briefly touch on what the
088reserve funds are. Um, as we spoke about this last year, there are 12 funds that are available to any school district. Um, we have a few of those. We don't have all of them, but we have um quite a few of those. They are broken down into three real categories um really pertaining to programs um uh property and then there's others. Um, in order to adhere to those laws, there are ways that we put money into those funds and there's ways that we can withdraw those funds. Sometimes it requires voter approval depending on what type of fund it is. Um, sometimes it requires board of ed to either agree to put money in or approve money to be put in or to approve to have that money put out uh taken out of there. Um,
089we also have what's called funds. Um, they're excess funds that are left over from the prior year. So for instance, this year um we're finishing up our 2425 year audit and we are expecting excess funds to be approximately $20 million which is about 13% overall with those funds. Um you may recall approximately 12 million of that was going to be used to help support the 25 26year budget. Um which leaves us with about $8 million to figure out how um maybe we can support other programs moving forward. We know that we have a capital project that we're trying to fund um the 2026 project and so we expect to put approximately $3 million of that into that reserve leaving us with excess fund balance of approximately 5 million in case of an emergency or to
090be able to roll over again into the 26 27 year. So, the employee related reserves, um there's four of those out of the 12. Um they um are the retirement contribution reserves, elar, workers comp, and unemployment insurance. Out of those four, we have I believe all four of those. This is just a brief description on what each of those are. Again, we discussed them last year, so I just want you to have them in case you want to refer back to it later on. The property related reserves, there's five different types of those. Um, it's capital reserve, which we've been talking a lot about over the last year. There's a repair reserve, which we don't typically have um, in school districts. We have had it here in the past, but we don't currently have one.
091Mandatory debt service reserve, we do have. Um, tax reduction reserve, again, we don't have that typically here. And then we have an insurance reserve. And again, these are just brief descriptions of what each of those things are and how they can be used. And then there's what's known as other reserves. And these make up the last three out of the 12. Um, their tax certary, the uncollected tax reserve, and the reserve for excess tax levy. Out of these three, we really only have the tax certary here at Rome. So these are the reserve balances that we currently have as of June 30th of 2025. As you can see, we're overfunded in a couple of those areas. They're very similar to what we were overfunded on last year. We have a couple um reserves that the
092liability and the two capital reserves that were underfunded by. Obviously, the capital 2026 were underfunded by 10 million because we only recently opened it and we're looking to help start funding that. [snorts] Um we are able to open that up to approximately $10 million. that was set by the voters um back in May of 2025. And we can continue to add to that fund until we have reached a total of $10 million. Um not necessarily at one time, but what that means is that over the years we can put in up to 10 million and we can take up um up to $10 million out of there. As you can see with the capital 2022 project, um we're currently underfunded by about 15,000, which really is not that bad. Um this um fund is helping
093to support the 2024 project that is currently um underway to start um next summer. Um for the most part you'll see that our numbers um either are potential liability for one or three years or one up to three years. Um talking to the auditors they agree that three years is a fully funded uh amount. So, the workers comp and the ERS numbers are um fully funded at this point. TRS is a newer reserve that really um only started a few years ago. So, we're going to continue looking to put money into that fund um to help when um teachers are getting ready to retire and and we have that liability on our end. So, as we move forward, since this is part of our reserve plan, we are looking to um put in $3 million
094from this school year from the 2425 year um with voter I'm sorry, with the board of education approval. We're hoping to do that in December. Um if there's a little extra funding left over in the excess funds, um based on what our auditors provide us, we will try to increase that number. We're also looking to put TRS reserves as part of the budgeted number for um 2526 of 300,000 and then the liability reserve because it's still underfunded. We're looking um in the 2627 year to actually budget half a million dollars into that reserve. Um, at this time we're not looking to actually remove or transfer any reserves, but um, because we're overfunded in a couple of these categories, we're looking to actually use 500,000 from the Ebler reserve. As you noted maybe on the other
095page, we're just over half a million and overfunded there. And um, 300,000 on the unemployment reserve, which we're overfunded currently 900,000 on. The only reason we're only going with 300,000 is in a typical year we're only between 250 and 300,000 in unemployment. Um so when we're looking at using fund balance in the 26 27 year for finance purposes um we currently this year used 12 million of that as I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation. We're looking to reduce that to about 10 million. And out of that 10 million, we're going to remove approximately a million dollars from reserves to help offset that $10 million. So with that, um those are the things that we're looking at as part of our finance show planning for our reserves. Um as our budget process begins here
096in a couple of weeks, um you know, the finance committee will have these conversations and we'll continue to move forward with how we want to use our reserves moving forward. But are there any questions at this time? Okay. Thank you. Okay. I did want to mention to the board that we have some visitors in our audience tonight and they are here from one of our history classes. I believe >> mostly. >> Yeah. Okay. I hope you're enjoying it. [laughter] They get a little extra credit for it, I believe. So, that's good. So, we'll move on to our consent agenda. We have a resolution to accept the consent agenda, which is on pages 2 through 10. Can I have a motion? >> Okay. Moved by Kirsten, second. >> Second by Jen. Any discussion on any of
097the items? If not, all in favor? >> I cons. Any opposed? Consent agenda is passed. Okay. Moving on to finance on page 11. Um our action items. One, resolution to accept a donation for opening day. Whereas day automation has generously donated $300 to Rome City School District for the purpose of providing donuts for opening day activities. And whereas the board of education is authorized under law to accept gifts and donations that support the educational mission and community spirit of the district. And now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby accepts with gratitude the donation of $300 from Day Automation for the purpose stated above. And be it further resolved that the board expresses its sincere appreciation to Day Automation for its continued support of the students, staff, and programs of the Rome
098City School District. Can I have a motion to move? >> Moved by Jen. Second. >> Second by Jonathan. Any discussion? When you say opening day, you mean a school, right? >> Correct. Thank you. >> First day of school. >> Yep. >> Sorry. >> All in favor? >> I motion's carried. Number two, resolution to approve ILO group contract through Bosey's cross contract. Where is the board of education of the Rome City School District seeks to engage the ILO group for school leader coaching services for the 2526 school year in the amount of $33,20. And whereas the use of a Bosey's cross contract includes an administration fee of 2,15280 6.5% resulting in a total cost of 35,77280. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Rome City School District hereby authorizes the district
099to enter into a Boseis cross contract for services with the ILO group for the provisions of school leader coaching services at a total cost not to exceed 35,7272.80 effective immediately and concluding on or about June 30th, 2026. Can I have a motion to move? >> Moved by Paula. Second by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. Number three, resolution to accept the CNS contract for 20 2024 capital project. Where is the board of education of the Rome City School District is undertaking a 2024 capital improvement project to support the continued maintenance, enhancement, and modernization of district facilities. And whereas the district has received a proposal from CNS companies, CNS, to provide professional services for the 2024 capital improvement project under the same terms and conditions as set forth in the agreement utilized for
100the 2022 capital improvement project, thereby maintaining consistency and efficiency in project management and delivery. And whereas CNS has outlined the anticipated project timeline as follows. Submission to the New York State Education Department SED in June 2025, commencement of construction in February 2026, continuing through March 2028, and project close out between April and June 2028, in where CNS has proposed a total professional services fee in the amount of 2,6,774 to be allocated as follows. Preonstruction services June 2025 to June January 2026 8 months $319,680 39960 a month construction phase services February 2026 through March 2028 26 months a million591538 61,213 a month closeout services April 2028 through June 2028 3 months $95,556 31842 a month. And whereas the board has determined that the continued engagement of CNS companies is in the best interest of the district
101providing continuity, technical enterprise, and cost-effective management for the successful completion of the 2024 capital improvement project. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Rome City School District hereby approves and authorizes the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for business to execute an agreement with CNS companies for for professional services related to the 2024 capital improvement project consistent with the terms of the 2022 capital improvement project agreement for a total amount not to exceed $2,674 And be it further resolved that the superintendent of schools, the assistant superintendent for business, and other appropriate district officials are hereby authorized to take any and all actions necessary to effectuate the intent of this resolution. I'm motion to move by Kirsten >> seconded by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? I motion's carried. Number
102four, resolution to accept the Woods Valley Ski agreement. Whereas the Rome City School District seeks to provide its intercolastic ski team with a facility suitable for practice sessions and hosting competitive meets during the 252026 winter season. And whereas the district and Woods Valley have negotiated an agreement under which Woods Valley will permit the district to utilize its ski facilities from December 20th, 2025 through March 1st, 2026 for practices in one interelastic ski meet on the terms and conditions set forth in the written agreement. And whereas the board of education has reviewed the terms of set agreement and finds it to be in the best interest of the district and its students to enter into such agreement. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Rome City School District hereby approves the
103agreement between the Rome City School District and Woods Valley LLC and Woods Valley Holdings LLC for use of ski facilities during the 2526 school year effective December 20th, 2025 through March 1st, 2026 and a total usage fee of $1,150 and racer entry fees of $15 per participant for the intercolastic meet as specified in the agreement. And be it further resolved that the superintendent of schools or his or her designate is hereby authorized and directed to execute an agreement on behalf of the district and to take all necessary steps to carry out the intent of this resolution. Can I have a motion to move? >> Moved by Jen, seconded by was that you Jeff or Jonathan? Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion's carried. Number five, resolution to accept homecoming dance DJ payment. Where is
104the Rome Free Academy held its annual homecoming dance on October 4th, 2025. And where is the student association staff requested to hire Joseph Rosado to provide DJ services for the event? And where is the total cost of said services is $725 to be paid from the staff's extra classroom activity funds. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the engagement of Joseph Rosado as the DJ for the homecoming dance on October 4th, 2025 at a total cost not to exceed $725 to be paid from staff estracurricular activity funds. Can I have a motion to move? >> So moved. >> Moved by Kirsten. >> Second by Paula. Any discussion? >> I just have a question. Why do we So I don't know if I'm wrong. So this happened already. So what if
105we didn't approve this? Now all of a sudden we don't pay this gentleman or anyone in that for that matter. I mean is this always a way of >> doing this? I'm sorry. >> I know. I'm sorry. I just I'm just curious that it's >> So typically we would have the information from the staff club before the event would have happened. Unfortunately, we didn't have it this summer before they sent the invoice in. And in order for us to actually make the payment, we have to get approval based on our policies. >> Want to say something? Chris. >> Okay. >> Now we got it. That's all right, girls. I got >> Okay, we've had a motion and a second. All in favor? I Oh, great. Now Mr. Rosado can get paid, so we're happy. [laughter]
106>> That's okay. >> I'm just joking with you. resolution to accept CAV contract for ed additional student. Whereas the district has previously entered into a contract with the central association for the blind and visually impaired, CAPV to provide vision therapy and occupational therapy services for the 2526 school year and whereas the district has identified an additional student in need of vision therapy andor occupational therapy services to provided by CAVI. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves and authorizes an amendment to the existing agreement with CAVI to include services for one additional student at a cost not to exceed $2,325 for a revised total contract amount not to exceed $42,325 for such services and mileage for the 2526 school year. Can I get a motion to move? >> Moved by Jonathan.
107>> Seconded by Jen. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Motion's carried. >> Our audit committee meeting will be this Thursday, November 13th, at 3. And our finance committee will be immediately following the audit committee meeting this Thursday. And we did not have a meeting since our last board meeting. So there is no committee report. Moving on to educational programs. Action item uh one resolution to approve RFA mixed choir overnight field trip. Resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the RFA mixed choir field trip to the NISMA Allstate Conference in Rochester, New York to depart on December 4th, 2025 and return on December 7th, 2025 under the coordination of Kerianne. >> Can I get a motion to move? So moved >> moved by Kurt second by
108Jonathan. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Motion's carried. Okay. Human resources action item number one resolution to approve tenure resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves a tenure for the following individual. Britney McCartney, teacher, special education, effective 1012025. Can I get a motion to move? >> Moved by Jonathan. Second. >> Second. >> By Kurten. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Motion's carried. >> Resolution to approve administrative personnel. Resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves a probationary appointment of Eric Renald for the position of assistant principal at Rome Free Academy at the salary of $92,000 plus contractual benefits prrated effective November 12th, 2025 through November 11th, 2028. Can I get a motion to move the
109resolution? >> So moved by Kurten. >> Second by Jonathan. Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Three. Resolution to accept separation agreement. Resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby accepts the separation agreement and general release between the Rome City School District S Ca A T A M CU and a non-instructional employee. Can I get a motion to move the resolution? >> So move. >> Moved by Paulo. Can I get somebody second? Second. >> Second by Jonathan. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? I. >> So moved. Resolution to accept a resignation resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the resignation of Rebecca Mau's school monitor bus effective November 10th, 2025. Can I? Moved by Kirsten. >> Second by Jonathan.
110Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I motion. >> Moving on to policy. >> Okay. Action item number one. Resolution to approve the second reading and adoption of policies. Resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education hereby approves the second reading and adoption of the following policies. Number 550 um 5500 sorry student records. Uh 5500-R student records regulation 5550 student privacy under protection of pupil rights amendment number 8635 information and data privacy security breach and notification number 8635-R information and data privacy security breach and notification regulation and number 8635E parents bill of right for student or student data Privacy and security. I move resolution >> moved by agent second and just moved it. >> All in favor? >> Action item number two, resolution to approve the first reading of
111policies. Resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the first reading and or first reading of the following policies. Number 2325, video conferencing of board meetings. Number 8210.1, use of surveillance cameras on school property. Number 9520.5, leaves of absence. and number 9520.5. What does that say? Dash number sign. Is that right? >> Exhibit. >> Oh, should be exhibit E. Okay. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Cancer screening leave request. I move to resolution. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Oh, second. Sorry. >> Okay. So moved by Jeff, seconded by John. All in favor? >> I motion. >> And our next meeting will be December 3rd at the district office at 4:45. >> Oh, I'm here. I can't do it. >> So, this one's um a mouthful. So, here we
112go. Resolution for temporary adjustment of term of office. Where is in May 2024, the voters of the school district approved of a proposition to reduce the number of seats on the board of education from 9 to 7. And where is there were three terms in office on the board expiring on June 30th, 2025. But due to voter approval to reduce the number of seats on the board, only one vacancy was on the ballot in May 2025 and only one additional individual elected to serve in a three-year term of office commencing July 1st, 2025, resulting in a board of education comprised of seven members as of July 1st, 2025. in where there will be three vacancies to be filled on the board of education at the May 2026 annual meeting and general election each associated with
113a three-year term of office. And whereas there will be three vacancies to be filled on the board of education at the May 2027 annual meeting and general election, each associated with a three-year term of office. And whereas there will be one vacancy to be filled on the board of education at the May 2028 annual meeting and general election associated with a three-year term of office. And whereas education law section 252 requires the board to establish after a reduction in number of seats on the board an election cycle under w under which as much as possible an equal number of seats on the board are up for election each year. And whereas the board recognizes that presently the election cycle is not ensuring an election cycle under which as much as possible an equal number of
114seats on the board are up for election each year. And whereas the education law authorizes the board to temporarily adjust the term in office for a board member or members prospectively in order to affffectuate an election cycle under which as much as possible an equal number of seats on the board are up for election each year. And whereas the term and office on the board can be either three or 5 years. And whereas if one term of office for the three vacancies to be filled at the May 2026 annual meeting and general election is adjusted from 3 years to 5 years, the school district will return to an election cycle under which as much as possible an equal number of seats on the board are up for election each year. And whereas the board wishes
115to ensure compliance with the statuary statutory requirements. Now therefore subject to approval by the commission of ed commissioner of education. The board resolves as follows. One one vacancy on the board of education to be filled at the May 19th, 2026 annual meeting and general election shall have a term of office for 5 years from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2031. Thereafter, the term of office shall revert to 3 years. Two, the vacancies on the board filled at the May 19th, 2026 annual meeting and general election shall be filled on an atlarge basis consistent with the education law such that the individual receiving the most votes shall be elected to the 5-year term in office and the individuals receiving the second and third highest number of votes shall be elected to three-year terms in office.
116Three. The district clerk is directed to submit this resolution to the commissioner of education for review and approval as required by the education law. This resolution shall become effective upon approval by the commissioner. I move this resolution. >> Seconded [laughter] by John. Any discussion? And I just want to say to the public, this has been a real process that we've had to go through because again going from nine to seven happened in one year. Then you had to wait a while to go with a seven. So this is why it's taking a little longer to come to this. So >> but it won't happen again. >> No, this will be it now after this one time is a one time adjustment. So all in favor? >> I. >> So it's up to you Sandy to
117move that on. [laughter] >> Up [gasps] to you. [clears throat] >> Okay. Discussion items, upcoming events. January 5th, 2026, our regent Manion, Patrick Manion, is going to be presenting at a night of Boseies at 6 p.m. at the SBI meeting. And I would encourage everyone to try and attend that because he really does bring a wealth of knowledge to what's going on. And I also wanted to bring up that we did have three board members who attended the NISSBA convention. Um myself, Jen, and Jonathan. And I would like to say it was a very very interesting um for myself talking to other board members um and understanding that we are not the only district going through cell phone issues. Um, most all districts now have to have student um, members on our board, which not
118all districts were doing, but we were ahead of the game on that, but understanding the importance of having them. And I also attended a couple um, some of the ones I went to were based around security within the school district. Um, it was interesting learning all that we're doing a lot of the same things as a lot of other districts, but also hearing some of the positives that we could try and enforce. Those were my takeaways. And I also did with our superintendent. We visited a high school in Queens, New York, and it was a very interesting experience seeing how another school district in such a big city um goes through their process every day. Um it was very enlightening. Um Jonathan Jen would you like to add? >> Was actually really interesting, very informative.
119Um first, while the millions of people in Manhattan, a third of them know our superintendent apparently cuz you're walking on the streets of New York and they're saying hi to her know by first name and I'm thinking how long have you been coming here? How often? It's really impressive. Uh the conference was it was very informative to learn some of the things you learn. I think my first day was pre-law, which was all day long. Um, and seeing the rights of the school were the ends, where it starts for individuals, disability, no matter what it was. It was actually a really formative group and just to learn so much about it. And then I think my last day, I know I took a class on the electric bus. There's a school district right outside of
120Buffalo who's already has two buses. They're going to use this winter electric, see how they work out. So, I made connection with the superintendent there. he's going to keep me informed what's going on. So, see how it turns out. See how well the bus run in Buffalo weather. Uh, and it was it was interesting to know that there's a lot of things to talk about when you do discuss if you do go to electric. I know none of us want to do that, but if it does come down to it, there's so much so many steps that I didn't realize. And they were really formed with how tell us what we have to do, who you got to talk to, what you got to get plan before you even go to national grid. And then
121the buses are limited to how far they you can drive. So Roman and I bet work well with it. So therefore, what do you do? Um, so we'll keep in contact with him, see how things go and go from there. But like I said, it was great, great experience. The people seeing other board members from realizing I think Jen could attest to this that a lot of people have more rough patch with it comes to board members where we talk about Rome, it's actually really smooth compared to other ones. It's just to hear what they have to go through and and the long I mean when you have a board meeting it goes seven hours nearly every time. Yeah. I'm sorry I'm cashing out. Um but it was it was great though. I also really
122enjoyed going down to the NISBA convention. Um, I ended up going to a board officer's training and it was actually really nice to be with other um, presidents and vice presidents locally. They I was near some of them that were from Syracuse and uh, be able to collaborate a little bit with them. Um, I also took some courses uh, one on policy, one on safety and one on MTSS because that is one of our pillars. So, I wanted to get a little bit more insight there. It was pretty amazing. Um, and the presenters of that one was from a district similar size or a little bit bigger, but just the influence that um, it can have on our students and staff and just the positive outcomes that come from it. Um, it was definitely very
123informative. It was a good bonding experience as board members. Um, I will definitely echo what Jonathan said that our superintendent knows a lot of people and I also learned that her and Sue walk really fast. So, um, it was a good it was good experience and we really do, our board really has, you know, come a long way and we really do work well together, especially hearing, you know, uh, some of the challenges that some other boards have. You know, I couldn't be more proud of the group that is sitting here and of our superintendent and you know, the staff within the school district would say that again um it it it is taking us into other areas, but the professional development we are as a board the professional development for us is just as
124important as any other individual who works who gets professional development because that's how we grow and that's how we start to understand all the different concepts that come up and ideas that come up. So I would encourage every board member next year, the next two years, it's actually in Buffalo, so it's a lot closer. So it would be um behoove us all when we start thinking about it to start putting that on your radar for board members. So I guess we now we can move on to no old business unless someone has something to bring up. If not, we have no public comment on agenda items. So, can I >> Oh, yep. You have to Okay. Um I'm sure November would it would have been two years. In January we had meetings with Rome school
125district, the special education department, CSSE, all that. And we had them meetings from January until September trying to get her back home because she did all she needed to do and was able to leave that facility in January and come back home. And they said they put her on the wait list for Boseies and this and that. Maybe she'll get in in the summer. She didn't. So, she was still there. The girl's having a fit. She wants to come home. She's autistic. Her IQ is 54. I've been back and forth with your CSSE department and it was told to me when she was released that alls I had to do was go sign her up back into our district, which I did on October 1st and it would take a couple of days, but they
126would discuss getting a tutor in until she could be put in a and she would go to priority for a school. Well, I kept I didn't hear anything and I started calling and calling and calling and still got nothing. And I've called and left several messages before and didn't get calls back. My problem with this is I have a 10-year-old autistic child with an IQ of 54 that is mad she can't be in school. She's home all this time. Then I got a call last week that they were going to start with a tutor today and they would be calling me on Friday to come to the district to pick up our computer or whatever cuz it's going to be virtual. Now this girl is not going to sit on a computer for 2 hours
127for somebody to teach her. I went through this with co she has a low IQ. She cannot sit there and have somebody telling her if it's not a hands-on. These kids learn differently. And I was told somebody was going to come and be teaching her, which needless to say, none of that happened. I didn't get to call on Friday to go get the computer. I didn't get nobody calling me and saying, "When this kid's going to start being taught, but then they're telling me at the same time last week, we know we owe her 30 hours and we're going to make that up." You're not going to get her on a computer for two hours. How you making it up as my problem. But then today, I thought it was quite comical that I get
128a letter in the mail for one of my other children. And let me read this part to you that Okay. He hasn't been in school since October or Yeah, it was October 8th because he was incarcerated. Your school district knew that cuz your RFA called me to inform me that they sent all the records to Ariskany school district. so that they could teach him while he was incarcerated. So that means he was signed out of your school district then and there, but I'm getting a note. They're going to call CPS if I don't figure out why my kid's not in school. They already know this. You're going to call CPS on me when my kid's incarcerated and he can't go to school here, but you're not giving my other child an education that she deserves.
129And my husband and me both looked at us and laughed and said, "Okay, so whose name am I getting to call CPS and give it to him and who's whose name am I given to my lawyer because my kid is not getting an education? She's Yeah, she's a foster child, but I've had her for 9 years. She's been in this school district. This is where she started. This is where she'll continue to go." and they put her on the wait list again at Boseies, which I'll tell you right now, two years ago before she left, Boseies says they're not the program for her. So, they're not going to say they got an opening and let her in. She requires a 621 classroom. I realize that. But with this child, you need to start thinking out
130of the box for all these kids. They deserve an education. They don't need to be isolated cuz she's not going to get an education on that computer for 2 hours a day because after 5 minutes, she's going to say, "Okay, I'm done." and close it down. She does that with workers in my house. So, I want to know how am I supposed to get this kid an education and when's it going to start? I think she's entitled to it. And it's only right that she gets one. And I don't think I should have to sit there and say, "Now, Tiana, you got to be nice and don't shut the computer on them." I have to be home and monitor this kid 24/7 until she is allowed in a program somewhere. I can't sit there and
131fight with her all day on you have to keep the computer open and do school work when she's not going to get a clue of I'm not going to sit here and listen to somebody tell me I got to do this and nobody's here to show me what I got to do. I'm just not understanding cuz I know RFA if you get suspended they will happily send a bus out to take you to tutoring after school in the evening. So, you're in school to get tutored when you're out of school suspended. But I can't even get that for a child that's special needs and needs that kind of an education. I I and I've been in this school district since 2009, and I have tons of special ed kids that are even in your school
132district now. And I have never had such a problem trying to get my kids educated. And I know she's a handful, but I feel that she is still entitled. And I think somebody needs to be doing something about this because she has waited a long enough. I figured maybe a week after October 1st when I signed her in and then it's nothing. I keep getting told you'll get this on this and nothing. still >> you just so we have your information then can you fill out a card here and she'll have it for us then please. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you. >> Not a problem. Thank you. >> And I have a um motion to adjurnn. >> So moved >> by Kirsten, second by Jen. All in favor? I motion's carried.