001Yeah. I mean, >> I just wanted to make sure corner right here. >> Okay. There's something going to get started. and students, >> your paperwork has to be filled out before any of us can sign it at the end of the meeting or when we dismiss you, which if the meeting goes long, we do dismiss you. We deserve the fine. So, before you bring your paperwork up, make sure that you've filled it out with your name, what the meeting is, all of that, please. Okay? Okay, we're going to call the meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. If everybody could please stand and join in the pledge of allegiance. 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, with liberty
002and justice for all. Hey, first up, we have the stronger connections um presentation this evening. appreciate me first. Hi, I'm Kim Becker. >> I'm Amy Alston. See you again. >> Yeah. And we appreciate the ability or the opportunity to come in and Oh, sorry. um to come in and to um for some of you refresh what it is we've been doing with the Student Success Center and to um also kind of at this point um tell you where we've been and then also looking forward because as you know that this was a grant um that we'll be ending and so we have a lot that we have really come over the last couple of years to see and learn as we as we've gone. Um, so, uh, this year we, uh, hung in there with,
003um, those of us that were here last year, maybe, myself, uh, Sue Neville was here last year, John Patrick, and McKenna Weaten. Uh, we all are here for the second year. And this year, we were very happy uh, to bring on more Paige Warfield, Owen Dunham, and Casey St. John, three former Whitney Point students who came in and have done an amazing job as well to support our students. So, that is who our current student success center with. Um Casey and Paige go back and forth between the high school and the TRA. Um Owen is in the high school opening into maybe. All right. >> Okay. So this is kind of a refresh just to remind everybody what our goals and outcomes were which came from the Stronger Connections grant. Um first and foremost supporting
004students academically. A lot of the goals that we are trying to meet are done through academics. Then we are also supporting the students socially and emotionally as well. Um we have some other initiatives we'll talk about sweethearts and heroes and other things that we do to kind of hit all the different areas of their success. Um we examine student data frequently every day. uh we look at student academic progress probably on on a whole school scale we're doing that weekly, but with the students that we're working with individually, we're we're doing that almost daily. So, we're really trying to, you know, hone in on those goals for each individual student that we're working with. Uh we focus on attendance, discipline referrals, social emotional screeners. I know um in the TA they have done some through
005other platforms in the high school. We have collaborated with guidance to focus on the needs assessment done with the PPS staff so that we are able to collaborate with them and kind of fill in where students might need um same gaps addressed um identifying trends and provide providing interventions to address barriers to success. It's really, you know, looking at the whole school, but then again, what is getting in the way of uh certain individual students success and what can we do to address those barriers and those gaps. Um, and then MTSS is something that we've done in both buildings as well. Um so the initiatives just to kind refresh your memory a bit um and to let you know the different um initiatives that we have done and the supports that we provide in each
006building. Um the first one there uh utilizing grade reports to identify students in need of academic support. That is something again we do daily. Uh we do weekly TRA and high school both really identify students who are struggling each week as we go. so that well anybody who is in the student success center as a tutor um and working with the students knows exactly where to focus and hone in for that student uh for that week really. >> And then referrals, we take referrals from teachers, parents, admin, guidance. I mean it's a constant flow of communication. You know, a teacher might refer if that student is struggling just in a particular academic area. Um we do have parents reach out, they email or or guidance. Um PPS counselors might connect us with the parents. Um
007so we do a lot of parent and guardian outreach just calling, emailing um and trying to be on the same page as far as what the kids need. And that goes also for students who are re-entering school after extended absences or illnesses, students who are out for a variety of reasons. um for some who really have struggles with anxiety and coming to school trying to set up plans in which these students when they return after illnesses or just return trying to make it back to the classroom and being able to be in school for a full day. We do quite a few different um re-entry programs with students where maybe they come in, they spend a couple periods in the student success center, maybe choose a class that they feel comfortable with, kind of work
008them out and progress them back into into classes and helping them focus too as they come back, knowing that if they were out for an extended period of time, the work they miss doesn't all have to be done at once and we can set up a plan for them to get the work done that is the most relevant work to get done. Also, um the grade level teams and collaboration, there's quite a bit of work to do. TRA has the teams that we would meet with the teams um being able to talk again about specific students and trying to find plans to work and strategies that might work with each of these students to help them be more successful. We've also helped tutor for exams uh of course you know for their regular coursework but
009also we've had a great opportunity for students that are taking regions either retaking regions in January that they may not have found success the first time um or the first time taking the regions and we've had a pretty good program going for that um and we also you know have done the tutoring in subjects math science eli so whatever the student needs is what we're trying to hit on. >> Uh the counseling opportunities, we've been again very um very lucky to have Paige who has come in and is officially in that role as counselor going back and forth between the high school. Uh she's even also worked with not only in our building, not only grades six, seven, eight, and the students in high school, but she works with grades four and five as well.
010Really trying to uh help four and five. I know, for example, working with some students who are struggling with some social skills, pulling them out, doing different, um, activities with them, um, and trying to help them to be more successful. So, those counseling moments are she's more able to work with kids on the mo in the moment, whereas our guidance counselors maybe have students that are coming in on a schedule who need to see them. Paige is able to really jump in. And I would say also um when you have Jen and McKenna and Owen and Casey and those as working with these students every day um they are working to help counsel and assist these students through a lot of their daily you know daily stressors and daily needs as well. So that is
011something that we are um trying to very much be flexible with. >> I'll say having the young alumni has really been like a bright spot for the program as well. And obviously that wasn't planned because those three joined us this year, but it's just been amazing and and the the kids just love working with them. Um the other thing I want to mention is that we have some peer tutoring opportunities. So this is also done on a very individual basis where if um you know we see a student that needs let's say they're struggling in algebra and then I'll communicate with the teacher to say hey who's a strong algebra student and we will pair them up and um find a common time that works. So that's been really awesome because um sometimes the better
012person to provide the assistance is the person that's there for the instruction which you know we're not. So that's been uh really successful and fun I think for the kids. Uh Sweethearts and Heroes uh they have been coming into our school now for the last couple of years working on circle and community building um within both the TRA and the high school. They are also the group that did the summer work last year with our students and we are looking to continue that summer work. Uh the students who did the summer work last year in the TR have become what we call evil buddies. uh they are now going into the fifth the fourth grade classrooms um and they are working with the students and that project actually as we're going to talk to as
013we go forward moving forward how do we keep this going the civic sealer readiness class in the TRA has also uh a group of students who are working to actually keep this initiative going uh they are actually going into uh I believe there's a team of three students who are going now into fifth grade classrooms and so their goal as seventh grade civic seal with readiness students is to keep this Eagle Buddies program going into um into the future. So that has been something that we have been uh very successful with and so again looking to do uh summer circle training again bringing in even more students this summer to really get students to feel comfortable and hopefully uh more teachers as well. Last year we had four teachers that took you know were involved
014in the training this and those students if you I don't know we didn't talk about it whether they were going to do it and they did do it. they went to the CEA in the summer and they were able to do circles with the CA summer school um when we did the training in the summer. So it was a very very I very positive for those students and it's been nice to see them continue that want to continue that. So, the next few slides, I just pulled some data from our check-in process that we had in the high school classroom. And there were just a few things that I felt were significant to share, particularly dealing with our growth that we've seen from uh last year being our first year to this year. So, you
015can see um on the left the uh first year that we were here last last school year, we had quite a few ninth graders visiting us, which made sense. it was our first year in the program and it was their first year in the high school, but you can see that cohort as they moved up to 10th graders has continued to come back to us. Um, and and then the other grades also kind of evened out where we saw sort of a nice mix of of all the students. But it was nice to see how some of the freshmen, especially struggling with that transition, just felt the support and and kind of then knew how to communicate with us and almost were able to advocate for themselves to to get that help. >> And I
016would say in the TR, we switched our data check-in and how we checked in this year, but uh the same idea with students who we worked with last year as maybe sixth and seventh graders. uh last year kind of trying to trick them to come in or get them to come in because it took a while to get them to buy into leaving an eyab or a study hall. They don't really like to do that too much. Um this year though to see them request to come down and want to come down has been a definite bow to our building as well. And then here uh again for our initial year we had a nice you know chunk of a third of our visitors were from study hall but obviously we had a lot coming
017through during lunch and that was a great way kind of like Kim is speaking to to sort of draw them in get them comfortable with the setting and then help them see the value and and what we were trying to do there. But now you can see that that's flip-flopped this year to where the majority of our visitors are during study hall which is what we want. we want them to come in and make productive use of that time um when they have work to do or when they need support. So that was a nice change to see as well. And then on the next one, this I felt was quite significant. N um where you know again last uh school year we had about a third coming out and seeking that tutoring and classwork
018help. Now, twothirds of our visitors are seeking out that help with tutoring. Um, which was a huge jump. And I think they finally started, you know, to understand that, um, you know, we're we're here to help lighten their load, help light lighten the teachers load, and just, you know, get them moving in the right direction. So it was nice to see that uh not only teachers, admin, guidance and parents asking for our help but the students really coming uh for our help and wanting that. Um this is kind of a repeat of one of our first slides. So I'm not going to go through all of these again in detail. I just him and I really wanted to emphasize um all all of what has been going on that we are very thankful for the
019opportunity to have done all of these things as we near the end of year three which is really only our second year. Um the first year we didn't um have you know we weren't up in operation yet. So, um it's just been a really amazing opportunity and I think beyond what we could have imagined for this program and so the student advocacy part um as we're looking towards so again we wanted to remind you of all that we have done but I also just wanted to say as we're coming to the end that what this experience definitely has done after being here for 30 years it really revealed and really laid bare what so many of our students need um these supports for the students who whether it's whether it's something they're struggling with at
020home, whether it's something they're struggling with in school, whether it's they just can't click in the classroom. To be able to have the student success center for the last two years has really shown um with many of our students um just what they can do and what they can believe if they believe in themselves and just have that one person or more. you know, we had more than one of us in that room, but they were able to match, as we said, now getting these younger one, you know, Paige and Owen and Casey in has really allowed them to connect. And we like to think that even at our, you know, generational age here, we can also connect. But it's just been really definitely has let us see um that there are many things that
021we're going to as a district have to try to continue um and looking to and I know that right now um the building administration is really looking for ways to fill these gaps when this goes away. Um how are we going to provide? Because I think for me as we've done this, not only is they always say you just have to be there one kid. You can change one kid. Um but every kid in Whitney point we're about class of 100 each time, right? So every kid if you're a data person is 1%. So I mean as we're looking to make these changes, I don't I never anybody who knows me knows I'm not the data hound. I am more the anecdotal and I see these kids on the daily and just if you look
022at the quotes that we have here um there's a student um who has acknowledged that he just he couldn't believe it. Thank you for helping me with my work. It helped me a lot. Never in a million years would I think I could have these grades. And if you look there are the teachers who have talked about the student success center becoming um for has let's see the student success center become support for students that is not only effective but goes far beyond what I could have ever expected. I think that was something that I know Amy and I worked very hard at the beginning to really try to get teachers to buy in because I think they thought that immediately we were going to just give them the answers and you know not really
023work with them to get it done. But that is something that has really resonated we feel with teachers. We've got them on board and that has been a very positive. The student success center is a vital element to our building success. Everyone in the Student Success Center room has shown compassion and care while upholding high expectations and you've created something incredible and assembled a team that somehow meets the needs of varied learners and even the most resistant of learners. And I also feel that that's something when you talk about that resistant learner or the different styles that students learn, having people to having a variety of people. And again, I know the buildings are looking to try to find that. But and I know also um that the, you know, budget is probably one of
024the worst budgets I've seen in, you know, quite a long time. And that you guys have a lot that you have to cover. Um it's I don't know where we're going, but we got to we got to figure this out. And so the teachers in the district need to get on board. I'm glad to maybe have one more year that I can help do that year, too. So, um, we really appreciate your support, the support of the administration, the support of the school board because, and I'm going to say right away, Joanne for putting this, she always says that she threw the kitchen sink into this grant when she wrote it, but if she had not written this grant and not put it forward because in all of her years here, she has also known
025that these gaps exist. And so we just need to continue to try to find ways to fill them for our students. I I'll add to that and say I have probably not met anyone in my life that is as passionate as educa about education as Joanne is. Um and so between the support of our administration which has just been beyond incredible um the support of the teachers how gracious they are and h how they've shared their strategies and their materials so that we can work together. It really has just been a dream come true and I thank everyone for the opportunity. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> I have one quick question. If I'm just like you, Kim, I believe that one student, it's worth it all. Um, but how what's the number
026of individual students that are attending this? I mean, I see the percentages, but I'm curious is where the numbers of student what's the student body numbers >> or coming through like on the daily type of situation >> individuals that have used the program. Maybe you don't have that number off your top of your head. >> I don't have it off the top of my head and you might have it because again we switched our signin policy, but I do know that I see for I can say for our building I see the um list. So every morning they come in and they create a list or the night before they create a list of students. And I would say that student that list is a good 20 strong every day coming through the two rooms.
027We now have two rooms and I would say it's a good 20 strong plus whoever Paige can see plus whoever happens to wander in or all of a sudden need help because you talk about the students getting through the day. That's something you really didn't mention. I mean it's some of it is disciplinary definitely because we've tried to do a lot of restorative within the AER room and switching that dynamic of inschool suspension. So it's not just kids coming and sitting and staring at a wall. It's kids actually getting if they're failing classes we focus on those and the you know the work they need to do. Um, so there's a lot quite a few students who might just have like a, you know, crash out during the day and need something and we're there
028and that happens a quite a few times, you know, during the day, two or three kids a day at least that are just need to come sit in that room and be with somebody or have somebody walk into a classroom with them so that they feel comfortable just even going to that class. So I would say, you know, in the T in the TR, it's a good 25 20 to 25. >> Yeah. in the high school, I I would I would need to look at the number of students of the say approximately 400. >> I know that our check-in log is at 5,000 for this school year. >> But um that is of course >> multiple you know students checking in, you know, could be multiple times a day if they have two study halls
029or if they come for study hall and lunch. So it's it's quite I would say it's that or more. >> We are on school day number what 134 or 135. I I know we're right in there. Maybe some elementary teacher knows this, but I know we're right in there. So, if you're looking at 5,000 check-ins and 135 to 136 school days, that's a pretty significant number. >> Quite a few. >> Yeah. So, um and this question might not need to go to them, but maybe Joanne, how could this help support a graduate? Oh, well I mean the the biggest thing that I think um we run into and I think that some of the quotes just spoke to this is that um students need to be able to believe in themselves before they can take
030on whatever path that is going to be in in front of them. And one of the biggest problems that we have is that especially in those middle school years, kids decide whether they're buying in or not, whether school's for them or not. And so one of the biggest things that they had to tackle was to be able to partner up with kids, you know, help them see in themselves that they could actually do it and give them like an on-ramp to to be there. And then eventually eventually um as we develop the different ways that we that students can demonstrate that learn and demonstrate their understanding, they they need to have the personal competence to be able to do those things. So, um, in the long run that these kids will be poised to be
031ready to take those things on. Um, I I you know, since you're giving me floor, thank you. >> You know, I'm just thinking like research this. We got to research this, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it is it is kids need to see themselves as learners. They need to see believe in themselves. It is always about people and we've had incredible people and just as I pointed out besides these wonderful uh two that have been coordinating the whole effort. It really has been amazing bringing on these people this year that who are younger who are invested in our community who can relate to the kids um and can be role models to some degree too. I mean it's just really been a powerful thing this year. It's hard it's the hard thing
032about grants is that you know they come to an end. Um so we're I'm so thankful to you. I'm so thankful for everybody who's been working so hard um who believe in our students who will advocate for them do anything have built relationships with faculty. Um it you know it's been really meaningful. >> Well again the opportunity has been tremendous. I can't it's for my career to kind of do this at this point has just been such a great opportunity and just being able to see these kids be successful and just hope that we can can convince you know hopefully we've taken a little bit of a shift in culture when it comes to both the students and the teachers to find the ways to really find the kids where they are and meet them
033there and and take that shift of not just going to come into the classroom and sit and do exactly what I say when I say, but um and that's again that advocacy to be able to that's one of the things that Jen and McKenna and and Casey and you know Sue at the high school they've all done is they they do they have to go to the teachers and say listen this kid is incredibly struggling right now. What can we do to make sure that they're going to get the most the most required most relevant work done and still be able to graduate or still be able to feel positive. >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we do not have a need for an executive session at this time. Um the correspondence, there was a
034letter from um Peter Noaki um but director area 4. Um and that brings us to policy discussion. got to put a number. I warned you last meeting. I don't know if you remember. >> Yep. Um we all of our um got a folder. >> Yeah, sorry. >> Folders. >> Many folders. >> Our special ed uh policies are very outdated. Um most of them are 2009 is the last time they were reviewed. So, um I've got a chunk here for you. All right. So, you have 7614 on top. >> Yep. Yep. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, the first one is our old policy, and you can see it was from 2009. Um, this is really not a very dramatic change. Um but I and so I've just sort of taken Erie 1's language which is a
035little bit more um up to date and reflective of the way CPS works now and some of the requirements that you know are a little bit more specific than they were at that time in 2009. So if you could just look at that. So again, this is just for discussion and if you see anything, um I think the most expedient thing would be just to individually email me and say with notes like we've done in the past. The next one 7609 that is um section 504 and again >> oh is the right >> we got it. >> Yep. Um 7609 is the um section 504 policy which these are require all these are required policy and um you can see that the language there is just a little bit more um comprehensive and outlines more
036specifically uh how section 504 is related to uh disability based discrimination which the previous policy didn't have and and it should be in our current our current policy. So, I made those changes. And if you see any issues with any of the language as you so skillfully do, um, eagle eyes seeing it for the first time. >> Well, right. You know, well, you know, when I'm reading through them over and over again, it's really helpful to have other eyes. Just please let me know if you see any issues there. >> Eagle eyes there. I like that. >> Eagle eyes. Yeah. Nice one. >> And then um you have 7611. Yes. Okay. >> So 7611 is a little bit more complicated and it's related actually to one of the um policies that we're going to remove
037tonight. Um, so we have a 2009 version of students with disabilities and what I'm proposing to do is to take the key parts of policy uh the old seven and policy 7620. Q you can see is very brief and 7650 which is the one that we were moving tonight but there are some things in there that I kind of they're not required but they just are embedded in this one policy that is updated. So 7611 would be the new policy that would incorporate everything that is required from the other policies and update the original 7611. So these policies are not as standalone policies required, but there are some things within them about the continuum of special ed, about reporting on disproportionality, about um credentials for for um teachers that are all embedded in this new
038policy. And then I highlighted, you see where it's not very nice highlighted, it's just gray. But I um the term parentally placed and I know we're moving away from parents in policies, but the term at state ed when they talk about students who are placed is parentally placed. So I my question to you was do you want to leave with the state ed uses the language or do we want to change it to the language we've been using which is parent/legal guardian? We >> do both. Yeah, I mean I don't think it changes the I mean the legal guardian could be the person who places the child. Doesn't change the spirit of what SA is saying. I just felt a little uncomfortable just changing it when I know that that's what state ed uses. >>
039Perhaps we should >> Sorry, go ahead. >> I think I'm going to say the same thing as you. If state ed uses that verbiage then perhaps we should too in order so that >> it's consistent. >> Yeah, that's why I didn't check this. But I I I know we've been moving towards the other way. So even if in parentheses afterwards so that it corresponds more to all of our other policies. So at least we're doing what state ad needs. But if we're moving that way, just have them both. I don't think it negates anything. It just adds >> I mean if it's even in the in the bold heading there. >> Yeah. And then just put in parentheses to parents guardians. No, I was I was thinking the same was this time. >> Okay. Right.
040And so I'd like to be able to whatever other thoughts or errors you find or anything that you suggestions if you could send those to me that would be wonderful. And then at the we would move to have this first reading at our next meeting and then I unfortunately we'll have another bunch for you for for next meeting. So basically Joanne, what you're doing is you're changing the 7611. >> Yes. >> But then >> also incorporating >> getting the 7650 and 762 into the 7611. >> Yeah. >> To make it a whole new sort of policy >> and to meet the requirements of what we have to have in our policy. >> But we won't be really getting rid of the old 761 because you're just re-editing the space. Right. >> Right. We but we
041are tonight actually getting now the reason we did 7650 was because that had that age of 21 >> um and so and it had other language in there things that we don't do anymore right >> so but there are some pieces in there that I did incorporate into 761 so we are going to eliminate 7650 tonight 762 at the next time I would propose eliminating because everything of importance is included in 761 Okay. >> And do you have this electronic yet? >> Yes, I it's in it's >> Thank you very much. It's harder for shady old guys. >> Thanks in advance for your >> 76. >> Oh no, that's that's also one, right? I'm sorry. 7660 that is um updated and that also you just want to look at the language that is there. Um
042this has some more complete information. It also has parentally placed in it which I can change to what we just discussed. >> That would be good. and everything that's in the new policy is is appropriate for what's required now. >> That's always good. >> That is good. >> Thank you. Um, that brings us to policies for first reading. 5220 district investment. May I have a motion? So, thank you, Chris. And a second. Thank you, Marley. Any questions or comments? Um so this is a policy that we typically uh well annually at three or meeting we're required to review. Um so it's been pretty consistent for uh since 2017. Um in the new proposed policy there is a new highlighted section um that would allow us to invest our funds in nightclass which is something if
043you guys remember back a few months ago where Moses came out um that's where Chrissy was talking about they were able to maximize their investment earnings through my class. So it's actually this uh municipal organization um lots of other school districts are using it. It kind of it's relatively new in the last two or three years. Again, we never really like to jump all in when it first comes out, but you know, now with even Bosey's advocating for it, it seemed wise to uh move our investments in that direction. Right now, we pretty much do uh certificates of deposit. Um the rates are relatively the same. The benefit of nightclass which we also have a resolution later on in the meeting to join officially is um you don't have the requirement of having to have
044your money um basically caught up in a CD. You the money is way more liquid in the nightclass. So you can still invest and actually can invest more money now and if you need to take the money out you can get it out like within a day as opposed to these 30 60-day terms. So that's really where you maximize the interest earning. Um so you know I had CBO vet it. Uh it seems wise it's why we didn't want to bring it just for you know initial discussion because of the fact it takes two policy or two meetings to approve the investment policy. Uh once that's done then I'll let CBL know they can start investing. >> So when you can pull it out that quick there's no penalty at all even doing it that
045quick or multiple times. Basically, this organization figured out a way to get all this municipal money invested safely, but they have so much other, you know, money funds available that they're able to beat the demands of and the pros. >> Like a monster savings >> basically. >> Any other questions from the board? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Okay. Um, policy 5221 for first reading, operating and reporting of district investments. May I have a motion? >> Some move. >> Thank you, Tom. And a second. >> Thank you, Benny. Um, so when looking at the investment policies we currently had, I saw this one. Um, and in reality, it it was something that was created a long time ago. We don't actually practice this policy. There's no reports that are generated that
046matched this policy. And I think it was probably maybe something done in the past prior to uh the school joining CBO because CBO really is the ones that invests our money now. Um, and again the way our financial the monthly treasures reports are, you can always look up the interest earned within those monthly. But if there's ever any desire or need to look at additional investment information down the road, you just let me know and I prepare report. So just to be in compliance, it's not required. It's recommended. >> Any questions from the board? >> All those in favor? Any opposed? and you abstain. Okay. Policies for second reading. Um policy 7650 ID and register human capping conditions. Um this is for removal. May I have a motion? So move you Chris and a second.
047>> Second. >> Thank you Michelle. Any questions or comments? >> So just to review, so this this pretty much everything in this policy is incorrect, but there are pieces that are important like the obligation to identify and register and that is now in the new combined policy. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? That brings us to our first opportunity for comments from the public. Um, know that there is a second opportunity towards the end of the meeting. Each speaker will be limited to a maximum of three minutes and the entire public comment period to a maximum of 30 minutes. This may be waved by a majority vote of the board. The board requests that each speaker stand states their name, residency, and topic of discussion. By law, the board will not
048permit any public statements regarding individual students or employees. Please be advised that while the board takes public comment very seriously. We are not allowed to comment or respond during the meeting as this is our opportunity to hear from our stakeholders. Items brought up to the attention of the board will be taken under consideration for future responses or action or the proper staff member will get back to you at the appropriate time. All that being said, is there anybody who would like to speak at this time? Okay. Commendations. >> So we begin with Mrs. Stanley TR administrators, faculty, staff and students and their families as well as Capernick Observatory and Science Center and Lockheed Martin for science fun at TR's um >> this is theology family science night on March 18. >> We well it was
049awesome. So, um, and we had, uh, one of the things that we've been talking about in our family engagement work was trying to make sure that we are, um, partnering with families around student learning, and this was an incredible example of that. Thank you for everybody who participated, even those present. Thank you very much. Um, Mrs. Thomas and the following members uh representing Whitney Point High School FCCLA state leadership conference on March 19th and the 20th of Whitney Point FCCLA received two community service awards and our team finished second place in the knowledge bowl competition. Nora Jordan, John Mars, Elena Morgan, Marissa Patinka, and Allison Zbeck. Congratulations to all of them. Mr. Miracle and the Whitney Point FFA TRA administration, faculty, staff, volunteers, and students for a fun night of dancing at the TR dance
050night on March 27th. CA administrators, faculty, staff, volunteers, donors, students, and their families for a super fun CA family fund car party held on March 28th. That's how it was. >> It always is. Mrs. Cook and the Whitney Point faculty basketball team for an incredible show in their game against Marathon. $900 was raised for each food pantry donation. Thank you to Greg's Marketplace and Fredo Lelay for their donations. Congratulations to the CA third grade March Multiplication Madness winner Elelliana and running up runner up Vernon. Both students solved both o over 200 facts in five minutes. Wow. Good for them. The following Whitney Point High School art students for their placement in the emerging artists exhibition. Look at the art behind you too. Get a chance. Allison Zenbeck, first place view from the visitor center. Alyssa
051Whittle, President's Emerging Artist Award, A Little Bit Rusty. And Ava Gardner, honorable mention for Still Life. Also, um not on this list, but uh the everybody everybody everybody everybody involved in the Whitney Point uh community school production that was over this past weekend, Friday, Sat and Saturday. Um the amount of work and the amount of talent that goes into those productions every year, I am incredibly humbled. Um it was a wonderful performance of Mary Poppins. So, um, thank you for everybody involved and there were very h happy people in the audience. Also, that night, uh, PTA had a father dod daughter dance at the TR and there packed house there too. Super cute. And then I saw some girls who were doing double duty. They were all dressed and then they came to the show
052afterwards. >> Very, very sweet. Um and also on that same day, uh the Miracle family had peaches at the TR, um a little path that was quite the hit. Um it's amazing how animals make kids happy and calm and just can't have them roaming around the school all day. And also on Friday, uh, Whitney Point and Lyall and, uh, uh, the Whitney Point and Lyall fire companies and Broom emergency services were here um, doing it was a recruitment day, but it was also an awareness day um, about the importance of emergency service workers and firefighters. So, thank you everybody. >> Thank you. >> Jordan, you're up. Okay. Um I was told last time we talked about the TRA. So good. So um last Friday we had another student voice meeting and during that the students
053broke into groups to discuss what we would some of our goals and the future would be for the high school. And one idea that really came up was a field day. This is kind of like following along our usual goal of getting more school spirit and getting people more happy and involved and enjoying coming to school. So, it's kind of like a mix of the Eagle Time activity and a pep rally, but like a bit longer. um plan right now is to have it as a half day because obviously and it's the fourth quarter so grades that the classes are going to get a bit more harder tests are coming up so we don't want to like take too much time from teachers but we still wanted it to be a bit longer than the
054usual pep rally so students would have more time to do things. Um, so the plan right now is to kind of have it be like a big sports day, I guess, where there's going to be like lots of games like relay races, a scavenger hunt, cornhole, water balloons, frisbee, but those aren't all deafness. Those are just some ideas that we discussed having. And for students who won't like going outside as much or doing stuff like that, we plan on having like an indoor movie in the auditorium and like a study hall where people can go. The main goal of it is to make the activities team based so we can build more communication and trust amongst the people in our school so we can more interconnected I guess. And right now we um have been
055talking about having the teams not sorted by grade level because people tend to stick to their clicks in their grades. So we thought we don't know how we're going to assign teams yet or anything. But we're hoping to make them more diverse. So people are talking to people they wouldn't normally be talking to and actually, you know, communicating with each other, talking to somebody you wouldn't normally talk to. Um yeah, any questions about the field day? >> Sounds like fun. >> And then one more issue that was brought is school lunches. Obviously, people are really just pushing for more variety. Um they want different options. They're not a fan of how we have like chicken every Monday or pizza every Friday. they were just hoping for a few different options. And um this isn't like
056actual like data gathered or anything, but in one of my classes, we had to like start a business and like all of them were food based. Like one team sold pineapples, my group sell cookies, one group sold slushies. So that kind of, you know, to me at least showed how like diverse people want their foods to be. Like obviously most of those things I mentioned are sweets so it's they're going to be bought anyway but one of them was pineapple and we kind of didn't expect that to sell but like it sold out within like one period. So even if it's not like the whole meal maybe some different sides that could be better like more fruits or vegetables or just things that you might enjoy a bit more. >> Okay. >> Anything else? >>
057Okay. Thank you. old business. We have none. And that brings us to our budget presentation. Okay. There you go. Thank you, Chris. >> Okay. Um, so this is our this is our budget presentation. Um 26 27 as always when we're developing the budget we think about what our job is is uh to focus on education and to build a sustainable budget to develop a reasonable tax levy within the applicable regulations. So guess what? Surprise surprise. We have no New York State budget. I'll spare you the detail I did in my district faculty meeting on how many days every year it's late. Um but uh it's the budget uh you know all sources that I have access to say they're not even close. Um there they've been tackling lots of issues that have nothing to do
058with education and my understanding is that there's still to be a big discussion about tier six retirement system which will be a big conversation. So it's a little frightening to think I don't know when we're going to know really what our actual budget numbers are. Um just some recaps. um from the executive proposal, school funding and education policy have been relatively low so far, but um she the governor did put out um full funding of foundation aid um formula, thank goodness, and a minimum 1% increase in foundation aid. And that's really important for some of our area school districts that have lost a little bit of enrollment or some of the other statistics in their district have changed a little bit. that can be devastating because they still, as we talked about before, they still
059have to provide all the services and have the same expenses, but you have a few less kids, you can lose quite a bit in dollars and um so that's helped them. The governor also proposed a significant expansion of prek that still has to be debated also. Um and uh also the proposal is that they will mandate that all districts provide prek. Again, that's not really an issue for us. Although the good thing about all of that is that the funding structure may change a little bit. One to give us a little more flexibility which will be helpful and two um for one of our grant lines we would get a little bit money. >> Wouldn't it include busing too? >> But that's one of the proposals. It's not you know I mean we we'll see
060how it all >> Yes. Yes. It's not because because right now prek students are not able um so that has to be all um uh negotiated. Also, the governor has been touting uh this evidence based math instruction. Um you know, she's been talking about numeracy. Now, we were talking about literacy and making sure that schools were all using evidence-based practices. Um you know, it's been shared with you that well before the governor asked us to um we had to do an addition to say that we were using evidence-based practice, we had already made shifts and you know, we're well down the road uh actually ahead of other districts. was a good thing that we needed to. Um so um those are the big things the big highlights as far as policy. Uh this is the
061proposal and so what you know the question is what do you do? We have no exe we have no budget. We don't really know what we're going to do. So the best thing that we can do is look at what the executive um office has put out and then work from there. And this is what um we had gone over before. And the big important number here is foundation aid. And the proposal from the executive branch is that we would get a 1.9% increase in our district. So that's great. Like we wouldn't want to see foundation aid not to be fully funded. We wouldn't want to see a loss. We wouldn't want to be at that 1% minimum threshold. But you know, as we'll discuss, costs are going up more than 1.9%. So, um, we
062have lots of challenges. Um, you can see here that there's lots of different things. A lot of these aid lines, as we've discussed before, are based on reimbursement for a money that we've spent. So, when you look at the bottom line, sometimes that I was just saying to Zach, it's always confusing when because people look for the bottom line and it looks like we're getting a 3.2% increase, but that's not really that concentrated with all the other aids there. um nor is a line above it where it's a minus 3.1 because that has to do with building aid and changes that we've had because we have a project coming off and debt coming off. So it's a little bit the big number that's important for us is that what our foundation made that's the bulk
063of our funding. So notes um just to keep in mind when we're having these discussions that if we have a 1% increase in attack in our tax levy, you know, it changes a little bit each year, but this year it should get us $90,000 uh you know, almost $91,000. A 1% increase in foundation aid is $245,891. 1% increase in the school budget is $486,513. So when you start to think, you know, when I talk about the budget and you try and simplify it because there's so many factors in the aid formulas and we're so dependent on aid, it's hard to decipher what's what. But when you think about um for example the bulk of our expenses for our active which is our active employees the cost of health insurance is going up 19.95%. And overall
064when you factor in the retirees which is not going up quite as much. So it's overall we have a 13% increase but that equals well over a million dollars in expenses. So it, you know, and I will just say we're not alone in this. This is a problem everywhere. This the health insurance costs are um a struggle for districts all over and and a lot of the things that you see in layoffs around the area are stemming from that that we the cost of health insurance is going up astronomically. um you know, if you have any avenues to to lobby, we're really trying to draw attention to the fact that that schools can't go it alone, that we need to really look at restructuring things so that we're paying part of a state system so
065that we're not competing with each other because that's what's happening right now. People are trying to districts are trying to outmaneuver each other. Um trying to cut deals to save money. Sometimes it's a short-time sa uh short-term savings, but then um following year it costs more. We need a bigger solution. And if there was a bigger state plan, they would have more leverage um uh for bargaining. So that's that's the really the gist of the problem. Also, we have negotiated raises because the cost of living for everybody, our employees included, is going up. So um those are our realities. So um so our budget um you can see from last year uh what the the total budget was was 48,651,000. This year our total budget what we're proposing is 48,281,000. um that is factoring in
066what we know from, you know, from the governor's budget. Um it's a reasonably safe bet. We're not going to get less than what the the governor has proposed. Uh we have to factor in all, you know, our estimated state aid. You can see there um what those numbers look like, which is less, but again, that has to do with um not getting aid from project and but we also don't have to pay as much from the project. Um we plan to use to put the same amount in appropriated fund balance and then um tap into reserves to make up some of this gap. We are proposing that we go out with the tax levy limit which is 2.57%. Um which means that the total tax levy would be 9,310.713. I I will tell you that
067these are numbers that are making us make this budget work. Um we've also done some things internally. Um we have um been as we've had the opportunity doing some downsizing um beginning July 1st of last year wherever we had the opportunity through attrition. Um we've also been scrutinizing all the things that we're spending money on. We're looking at usage rates. We're looking at um other opportunities that we you know things that we're purchasing. Is there a cheaper way to purchase? We're looking you know very carefully at software purchases which are all those things are very expensive. Trying to find every way that we can save money and that's all part of this picture that it's not really that visible not working. >> Wait. How about an arrow? Oh, there we go. >> All right. So,
068our revenue projection um stated uh the stated all sources and again this is a little bit misleading because because again the foundation is the big thing that really is funding our the the the bulk of our budget. Um when you look at all of the different factors um including things that had to do with our our debt and our project um it's we our our state aid is going down um over a million dollars. Other revenues um again this is like give or take $23,000 use of reserves. We know that we're going to that's our plan is to to close some of this gap. Uh our tax levy increase would equal $233,000. um in do in actual dollars if we go out with the tax levy limit and um it gives us a change of
069$369,887 less in total budget than our last year's budget. So our current budget again this year this school year was 48,651,344. We are proposing a smaller budget of $48,281,457. Proposed spending decrease of 369,887. Proposed tax levy increase uh to assist with some of this is $233,264. And as I mentioned, leaning on reserves, which as you know is not a long-term solution. So when we think about our budget goals, um as I said now, you know, we always are thinking how to be how to be fiscally wise. Um now we're thinking about how do we need to be more strategic with fiscally downsizing and cutting things moving forward. Um, but while we're doing that, obviously we need to maintain enrichment opportunities and continue to provide needed supports to our students. We have a job to educate
070our students. We need to make sure that our students are as prepared as any student from any district when they graduate from here. So, we need to do that. We just need to do it as fiscally wisely as possible. Uh we continue to look at uh supporting students uh learning experiences including opportunities in the arts, career internships, job shadowing, career technical programs, advanced academic coursework to ensure all students are well prepared for success after graduation from high school. All of those things cost money. Um we continue, as you know, to look for and cultivate partnerships to enhance the offerings that we have for children and families. We constantly look to partner with post-secondary um educational institutions um and now more and more with other employers um look for grant opportunities to enhance what we can
071pay for ourselves. And we need to continue to provide our students and community with facilities that are wellmaintained and support innovative learning and enrichment. And continue to implement our $100,000 capital outlay projects to ensure responsible stewardship of community resources and long-term quality of our school facilities. The school, the property and the school is the community school. Um so we need to be careful and wise with it. And we are proposing a 2.57 uh increase to the tax levy which is the tax levy limit. >> Any questions? >> We are we are we are and um we're very thankful that but it's kind of a we're making it through this year and um >> replace it. We have to >> right. Yeah. And um just to to be completely like so you know we've had that
072conversation with faculty shared with them like at every opportunity that we see I mean that's the place where we're going to start and we're going to you know we don't ever want to see anybody leave but if somebody does then we're going to be looking at that as an opportunity to either restructure or or downsize. Um that's place that we're starting and um and then and we're really just questioning everything. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. That brings us to the budget repro approval be resolved upon recommendation of the superintendent that the board of education of the Lady Point Central School District approve the 2026 to 2027 school district budget on the sum of 48,281,457 with a 2.57% tax levy increase. May I have a motion? >> Moved. >> Thank you, Chris.
073and a second. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Um, property tax report card. The 2026 to 2027 property tax report card. May I have a motion? So, I have Benny and any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Okay. Okay, for the consent agenda, may I have a motion? >> Thank you, Tom and Chris. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Drawing for ballot order. very tiny but that's Rocky. Okay. So um city. >> I will put you from. >> Okay. First listed on the ballot will be Aubrey Nashi, >> which means second will be Tom Tasper. Yeah. >> Okay. We have um an appointment. Tequila Spicer, bus monitor effective April 21st, 2026. May I have a
074motion? >> Press. >> Any questions or comments? >> All those in favor? Any opposed? Any abstain? um establish a scholarship um the Janet Mortonson Memorial Scholarship Fund. May I have a motion? >> Thank you, Molly. And a second. >> Thank you, Benny. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? um approve the following donation. Um $1,000 donation from Ray Mortonson to the Janet Mortonson Memorial Scholarship Fund. I have a motion. >> Thank you, Aubrey and Chris. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? $300 cash for classrooms donation from the Miller Auto Team. May I have a motion? >> Thank you, Benny. >> Second. >> Thank you, Molly. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Um, this is
075the Bosey's bud budget resolution. The administrative budget in the amount of $4,289,65. May I have a motion? So moved. >> Thank you, Chris. And a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Benny. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? any abstain. Okay. Um there are two three-year positions on the um board of trustees. There are two nominees that have put their names forward. Peter Noaki and Leon Stewart. Um would I have a first nominee? I nominate Peter Noeki. And could I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Michelle. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? A second. Nominee, please. >> Nominate Sean. >> Second. Thank you, Chris. All those in favor? I >> Any opposed? Any abstain? >> Um, the Whitney Point Central School District
076Board of Education cast a vote for the Broom Tyogga Board of Cooperative Educational Services board candidates as identified above. We have a motion. >> Thank you, Chris. And a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Molly. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstain? Um, this is for sports medicine and medical services from UHS. Um, sports medicine services for the next three years starting with 2026 to 2027 and continuing through 2028 to 2029, $15,915 per year. and medical services for the same time periods each year will be $14,05. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Tom. And a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Michelle. Any questions or comments? >> Did it go up much? >> They just did a 3% increase for year one and they kept it flat
077for the next two years. >> Thank you. >> I think that the services that we receive for them is well worth it. together. >> It's made a big difference since we've been able to do this. I I think it's a great thing. >> Any other questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? >> Bosy's FRS resolution. Um, be it resolved on recommendation of the superintendent that the board of education of the Whitney Point Central School District will participate in the attached services during 2026 2027 school year to the extent indicated. The board of education agrees to pay broom teaosis the charges identified on the base contract according to the schedule as determined excuse me I apologize by broom teaosis. Um, be it also be it resolved that payments on supplemental contract
078will be implemented by the district in accordance with the broom tag above requirements. May I have a motion? >> Thank you, Benny. And a second. Second. >> Thank you, Chris. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Nlass Municipal Cooperation Resolution. Whereas the New York General Municipal Law, Article 5-G, section 119- Z um excuse me, O empowers municipal corporations defined in article 5-G, section 119-N to include school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, counties, cities, towns, villages, and districts. to enter into, amend, cancel, and terminate agreements for the performance among themselves or one for the other of their respective functions, powers, and duties as a cooperative or contract basis. Whereas the Winnie Point Central School District wishes to wishes to invest portions of its available investment funds in cooperation with
079other corporations andor districts pursuant to the nightclass municipal cooperation agreement amended and restated as of August 1st, 2023. Whereas the Whitney Point Central School District wishes to satisfy the safety and liquidity needs of their funds. Now therefore, it is hereby resolved as follows. That Zachary Woodard, School Business Executive, Whitney Point Central School District, is hereby authorized to participate in the nightclass program under the terms of the nightclass municipal cooperation agreement amended and restated as of August 1st, 2023. May I have a motion? All >> time. Thank you. Any questions or comments? >> So, will this be revisited sooner? >> So, not this part of the resolution because you're granting like need the authority that signed the agreement to be a part of it, but every year the reorg meeting uh the investment policy is to
080be like annually reviewed. So, it's handed out separately at that meeting. Oh, >> any other questions? All those in favor. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Dual agreement. Be it resolved upon recommendation of the superintendent that the board of education of the Winnieoint Central School District hereby approves the agreement between the board of education, superintendent of schools, the Winnieoint teachers association, and Amanda Doolittle. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> Thank you, Chris. And second. >> Second. Thank you, Bennett. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Excuse me. Any abstain? Did I get all that right? Sorry, my voice keeps going at distracting me. Okay. Um, it's okay. We're establishing workers and poleworkers and a rate of pay for the 2026 annual meeting um for the sole budget of the budget is
081um sole purpose of the budget school vehicle and board of education member vote. Rate of pay is $16 per hour. We have Phyllis Edwards and Christine Moore House. I have a motion. I'm sorry I didn't. Thank you. And a second. >> Second. Thank you, Michelle. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Superintendent update? >> Um well, it's related to um the upcoming budget vote. Um we historically had used a service to help us manage um collecting voter information and um then there was changes and laws and there's new kinds of reporting that we have to do which have happens to do do with like voter transparency and election fraud concerns. Um, so we now have to track uh all voters, track their voting history, um, do more verifications on
082where their uh, their residency is. And so, um, it's fairly unwieldy and very quickly and once we found out what the new reporting requirements were, we, uh, realized that we were the only school that wasn't using any system for assistance with this. So, we have very quickly contracted with old systems and they are they are doing all of that information. they are collecting all the information so that we think we're going to be able to scramble by the time the the election comes and we'll have everything in place just so you know. Um so there will be um we will have all the registered voters. We've been doing this that all the registered voter lists we've gotten since we went back to the voting machines and started to work with the board of elections, but
083they give us um much more comprehensive information and then do all of that tracking for us and they'll be able to like cross reference. Stacy's taking all of our old lists of who's voted in the past and they're going to pull that all together and track asing that we need to do. Um, we are going to have to promote um, we're get waiting for some information from them and put a send a campaign out to people to let them know that if they are not registered voters, they are going to have to bring some proof of residency. >> Um, which I think will make some people happy. Um, you know, I think there there has been people who like the fact that we've had people working at the polls who know people and, you know,
084can recognize people, but there have been other people that have been concerned about that. So, um, we will still make it friendly, but we will make sure that we, you know, are doing our due diligence. So, there'll be some slight changes >> at the polls this year. >> So, they won't be able to check until after the fact, then correct. talk to people are signed in, >> but we will ask people to bring ID to say that they have like who they are and that they're like like a a what some districts are doing we found is like take a utility bill just like we do residency when you enroll. So, we will letting people know ahead of time when we send out the voter information that you need to bring. Like, for example, your
085driver's license and and a utility bill to say that, you know, you're actually a current resident and your license isn't from three years ago. Um, and then uh which is what we do for residency when you enroll your students in school. And then we will do they'll do a double checking. But if you do that, you have you know you it it would take a lot. I mean we'd have to we would have to change the election results if somebody if it was that close and there was a person or two that actually had some weird utility fake bill or something. >> So I'm sorry. >> So so everybody has to do that that's going to >> No, no, no. if you are not a registered voter. Most people are registered voters >> and that's
086being verified by going back. >> Yes. >> I'm just saying. >> So, we have lists. >> We just don't have it all organized by voter by, you know, so they will do that. So, they're going to take all of our lists that we've had from every election >> and they're going to compile that all and get it all in shape for us so that we can do the reporting that we we need to. But as part of this process, like I said, that we we just need to on the spot, >> okay, >> to have it's most people are registered voters. So, it's just a few people that are not. Sometimes people think they're residents of the school district and they're not. Like, it's an honest mistake. So, um you know, just clean the last
087house in the district. I understand that a different district can be higher. Yes. >> Also just um I mentioned that you look at the beautiful artwork behind you. Um as always and then I also want to point out that um Unica National does their awards every year and um we uh were presented this year with the titanium level. Um there's a lot of work that with honors who that goes into this but I would like to thank Carrie Goligley in particular because um she is all over it like in making sure and not just to kind of appease Udica National like really she takes that job really seriously and um and very much appreciate it and all sorts of people go into making sure that we meet the requirements. So >> can you explain what
088the requirements are what they pertain to? Um, it just all I mean it's a I don't know it's >> it's a very encumbrant checklist for a variety of topics. There's a playground checklist, there's a fire safety checklist, um, you know, everything you can think of liability purposes. >> And then they have like an honors program where certain items you have to provide proof that you're meeting this >> and once you get to a certain point threshold, then you get like a plaque. And that's the highest honored plaque that we've been getting consistently. And they also give us a $500 award for a treat. >> Cool. >> So, and Unic National is our insurance company, correct? >> Yes. >> So, they're invested in us doing everything that we're supposed to be doing. >> And for that,
089we get a PL. Yes. >> Be worse. >> Yeah. Oh, absolutely. >> Um, anything else from you? Okay, that brings us to our second opportunity for comments from the public. Please remember that the guidelines that are read at the first opportunity remain the same. Is there anybody who would like to speak at this point? Okay. Board of Education comments for one. Does anybody have any comments they want to or topics they want to bring up at this time? Just a reminder that Super Val's open and due in May. Yep. And if anybody's having trouble with Super Val, just >> let us know. >> Nobody said anything. I guess I guess as a comment in most years I I offer this being a father of three daughters um that are much older now I've always thought
090of the fatherdaughter dance is one of the best things here in the district it's a wonderful thing and um sorry they can't do it anymore but um like I what a wonderful event fantastic >> great my daughters always loved it too pictures on the I'm a little girl who wasn't talking about it for weeks since the countdown. >> Yeah, the countdown began months ago. >> Wonderful thing. >> Okay. Um we do have the need for an executive session and um your discussion on hiring of specific personnel. >> Um >> signature >> the signatures for >> Yep. I know. >> Oh, no. I'm just asking. >> Okay. We usually close the meeting and then have them come up. >> Um we once we're done with executive session, we will be going back into um public session
091and then immediately closing that adjourning that. So um nobody needs to hang around. Um may I have a motion to go into executive session? So move um and a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I any opposed? Any abstain? So remember students, please make sure your forms are filled out as much as you can and any one of us at this table can sign. It doesn't have to be a particular person. taught up in