001to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for stand One Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all you have the land acknowledgement read by vice president Cindy M the Buffalo City School District respectfully acknowledges the hoden ooni Confederacy on whose ancestrial territory our schools were built we honor and pay tribute to the indigenous ancestors of the land we use we acknowledge the historic intergenerational traumas they have endured and offer hope and opportunities for healing and Reconciliation as we go forward together one key hoding and show shony principle is to live in peace and harmony with each other and the natural world all life should be respected and cared for because what happens to one living thing affects all living things we are grateful for the Abundant natural resources
002in this land of the hoden Shoni people and for all who work to protect these resources we acknowledge the hoden and shony people is the past present and future caretakers of this land and water and we are grateful for the opportunity to to live work and educate our children on this ancestrial land thank you vice president and so um I want to introduce as a new item that we will regularly um read each month as we have adopted the student outcome Focus governance Council great City school and I'm going to start and each member um every month we'll do the same so this is the Board of Education resolution gu rails for the board it's it's been adopted um so as the Buffalo board of education has committed to becoming a board focus on improving
003student outcomes we recognize our adult behaviors must change to upold this commitment as we have given the superintendent specific guard rails that protect the values of our community we understand the need to establish guard rails for our Behavior as a board the board shall operate within the board's role as defined in board policy number 1310 and the board's current operating procedures specifically as defined in board policy number 1311 6110 the board either collectively or through the actions of individual board members Number One D rail number one shall not invest less than 50% of this minutes each month into monitoring student outcome goals so what you'll see a shift in our business meeting that a lot of the um activity will be focused on student outcome outcome in this District D real two shall not perform
004or appear to perform any of the responsibilities delicated to the superintendent we have one superintendent gu R three shall not violate any board adopted policy or District procedure and then lastly gu r four shall not behave in a manner that would violate the student code of conduct so the board held an executive session to discuss number one penny litigation matters before the New York state supreme court with index numbers 2019 and 814 2022 number two matters related to the employment and potential discipline and or dismissal of of specific District employees and number three for the purpose of you seeking legal advice no official action was taken so now we'll shift to speakers there's guidelines for speakers at this time the board welcomes speakers who have signed up to speak at tonight's meeting please be be
005reminded that all speakers remarks must be limited to 3 minutes or less we ask the speakers be mindful that this is a business meeting open to the public and televised locally attendees and viewers include persons from throughout Western New York including children the board asks that speakers conduct themselves professionally and that their comments remain civil and courteous bearing in mind that they will be heard by people of all ages if you have ch information to share with us please do not table provide your information to the district will make sure they this is an opportunity for Buffalo's residents to address the uh Board of Education and District about issues that Ser to public interest in District Mission and the board asks his speakers demonstrate appropriate first we have ter I'm K is she here long
006she comes invite her back up okay next we have Exel parent special education welcome Mr SP thank you so slightly changed speech after today's announcement like to thank you Dr for the work and uh in my opinion you're perfect uh person to bring on to bridge now the bridge to the new superintendent uh congratulate you and enjoy your retirement when you finally get there this year but we do expect you to have a partner for corle this year at the I'm there I'm here so the superintendent he's done a lot of great work moving a lot of things forward but we still have a huge concern as parents regarding special ed so as a member of CAC I attend and a parent member in the New York State I attend many meetings for special I
007attended a meeting this past week that was out of compliance C almost from the second we started to the second we finished I'm not going to blow the school up here what I say is first they excuse two professionals they were one was sick and one was uh in the building but working with students so we we accepted that then in the middle of our meeting social workers are walking in and out with students so we didn't have a private meeting um as the meeting went on it came to a part where we're going to include a for the student you know behavior intervention plan and we didn't have a copy of it and she wanted to put it into the IP without revie it and no one's there to present it and I said
008you can't put something in the I without this committee's approval so long story short we're having a lot of meetings in the district where everybody who should be at the meeting aren't there and they're pushing things through because they think parents don't know any better the BET has to be reviewed by the committee to be approved professionals made it with the consideration of the student which we're we're glad the professionals made it but we as a committee the pair included get to get to know the bit before it goes into place and give our uh assessments of whether we agree with it or not and uh they try to steamrolls with that and I said you're out of compliance we can't we should not be turning this EP into the board for approval we have
009not finished and request a new meeting so I want to bring that to your attention tonight um because it's as you know it's always been my concern that we struggle with placement with our special and then the meetings it's not the only meeting and it's she was n lot about like big deal and I'm like no 200 RS protect this student for this reason so I just wanted to bring it to your attention thank you next we have Marina Fisher par Transportation special marus maros anonio one family good afternoon my name is John today I'll be talking about bus issues my morning bus is so late that my mom has to take me [Music] to spech early muche early and I will miss my speech my afternoon bus is always my to the the after
010bus is supposed to get me home at 4:52 but normally I do not get home till almost 5:30 here I have children so I am running home to make it time my always being lit is affecting affects me in a bad way my mom has to stop work to take me and if she can't then I I will be late for school I should not have to risk missing my part of my my speech class because mys is always I should not have toate for my because my bus is someone please help myself and my CL should not have to go through this day thank you for thank youon my name I'm going to talk about my bus and things a little about my bus at first of the start of the year my bus
011driver in the bus will put on music every Thursday and Friday the bus will give us get us motivated every day to have a great day the problem is that my bus r got chased out of nowhere without letting me or my mom know since I have a new bus driver she's always at for pickup since my pickup is late I'm getting a school late this affects my learning and education because I take both of them seriously my previous bus driver will my pevious bus driver will never get me late to school I would like to go back to my old bus because I would like to get to school on T and I miss my old bus driver getting me motivated every day thanks for a mhm yeah Transportation big hi my name is
012alandro today I'll be talking about buy I am s that my morning bus catch came my bus a in the morning motivated me when I went to school every day she will always be happy and smile she was friendly with everyone my bests Aid was nice to parents and all the I would like to give my math teacher a huge thumbs up I do very well in math and scored 30 points over the state average last year in math however I am sad there is no gifted and tented class for fifth grade my teacher does all she can to keep me challenged and I thank her for that Dr Williams night I will miss you but happy happy I get to see you for a couple of mons thank you for look at this good
013evening my name is di I am going to talk about what I like and don't like about my bus in the morning but they changed my bus driver and my old bus will put on music and every Friday he will bring us 10 and say have a and say have a great day when I asked my mom about this she told me it was because the bus drivers can change in October why do they do this in October when school starts in September my old bus driver did not want to move to a different bus but they made him do you want to know a crazy thing my morning bus comes two blocks away from me and then goes to in the opposite direction and then comes back 20 minutes later my school starts at
0149:10 and my bus sometimes gets to school at 9:20 so because of this I sometimes don't get to eat breakfast could someone please fix the more bus issues thank you for your time have a great evening a [Applause] good evening my name is Lina Fisher um to follow my kids sentiments we really do need to take a deep dive into our transportation issues why thises first student do bid routes in October and not before school starts with the $15 million increase to their contract I hope we added delate bus penalty team when the cles are late affects all involved students teachers and staff as to my children who are attend school 67 their bus a is the shining example of what all children should have in the morning as she gives them affirmations you are
015amazing you are great you are kind you are smart I am deeply sadden that the bus rout was changed with no notice and that my children will not be able to experience this on a morning basis but I do want to give Mr David Hills a huge thank you for his help in getting down to why one of my son's buses was arriving 40 minutes late every morning so hopefully first student takes this seriously and actually implements the change now on to our students education I already M ofe scores have now been completed at most of our schools for Math and Ela why do parents need to wait for spring parent teacher conferences to get this information and not all School parents give the and not all schools are giving parents the opportunity for a
016parent teacher conference I would like to request that teachers send this info home as soon as it is completed parents should not have to wait two months to get this information this is vital in addressing huge educational gaps Dr Williams KN I'd like to congratulate you and wish you nothing but happiness you deserve this but no you will Sly be [Applause] speakers um now the superintendent will provide a response well I will surely miss the fishera family we have the operation Sunrise committee uh that meets the transportation committee and Miss sister I'm not sure if you've had an opportunity to join the committee but they do deal with systemic issues on the committee and it grills all the way down and it's it's an opportunity to talk about some of the specific issues that um
017the children have shared when I hear about the bus a um it tells me that you know or it sounds like that's a best practice you know what your children experien the affirmations I don't know about the Tim Hortons in the morning they probably get shited up but the affirmations and the music I love it and so you know I'd like to talk with you a little bit find out what you know what that bus number was because it sounds like that's the best practice that we should be sharing so that all of our children have that same experience routing is is complicated it's very very complicated and with the three tier bus system or schedule and all of the streets that we have in the Buffalo school it really is complicated I would ask
018that you speak with ke Hills on the specifics of why the buses you know 10 minutes I mean you know two blocks away and then leaves and comes back and it's 20 minutes um I I don't have an answer because I don't have the specifics on it but I know that Chief Hills would be willing to work with you to see and I've heard that he's already been helpful with resolving um some issues that um children were experiencing the I ready piece um it's not any expectation from me that has come down that scores cannot be shared until there's a parent teacher conference in the spring so that may be a school-based decision and so again you know I would ask that you know we have a conversation so that I can find out where
019and what the rationale is and see how we can problem solve so that you can get that information as early as possible and try to get support you know for your children to keep those scores going higher and higher which is what we want and you know finally again I really appreciate especially you know what Alejandro said you know um I don't know if you paid him to say it but certainly swelled my heart to hear that he would miss me sitting in the seat and and I mean it from my heart when I say I will miss the children and I will miss you know our interactions um here at the board and as long as I'm here you know I'm here to serve so we will talk thank you Dr tonight uh next
020we'll have student representative report uh good evening everyone uh I hope you all are doing well I want to take a moment to reflect on our recent team relationship violence prevention awareness Summit we attended on February 6th the summit was an eye openening and insightful experience given us the chance to engage in deep discussion about an import important yet often uncomfortable topic uh one of one of the key takeaway was the important of educating not only ourself but also our underclass Lan as they prepare for high school and eventually enter relationship of their own the knowledge we gain can help guide them towards making healthy decision and recognizing potential red flags as one of my peers shared an important lesson from the summit was the value of maintaining a balanced life not becoming too reliant
021on a relationship but instead ensuring that we continue to grow as an individual these are conversations that while sometimes difficult are necessary to ensure that we Foster safe and respectful relationship in our community looking ahead I'm excited about our upcoming leadership conference on March March 20th at Nigo University and the mental health youth uh Symposium on May 22nd these events will continue to provide us with valuable learning opportunities and space to collaborate with students from across the district I also want to express my gratitude to the teachers advisers students and leaders who attended the summit especially considering the cold weather that day it was very icy um your dedication and willingness to engage in these important discussion truly made a difference and before I close I want to take a moment to express my deep
022gratitude to Dr William Knight as she prepares to retirement today Dr Knight your dedication and Leadership have impact on our and stud you have started your commitment to making education better supporting student voices and ensuring that we have all the resources we need um and it has not gone unnoticed you have truly made a difference in our lives for many students and including myself thank you [Applause] good thank you Rohan he is so young and so wise so very wise um president our dpcc president um who was a member of the parent Congress Mr spidel I don't know how I slip by you um you know maybe because you're just part of the BPS family but you know um I want to first of all thank you for uh our work together um as I
023shared in in your letter I know that we don't always agree on everything but I always appreciate the honesty and the advocacy that you have exhibited on behalf of our most needy children our most needy children I really do appreciate it so you shared some things that were concerning about a meeting um I'd like to ask Chief belli to reach out to me so that she can peill layers on what happened at that meeting and what most concerned me is I know that one meeting you know you could have that happen but when I hear you say that's not the only meeting that you have some concerns about that means that it's time for us to you know kind of peel some layers and see what's going on so I'm going to ask Chief belli
024to reach out to you this week so that we can figure out how we can address some of the things you thank you Dr it is your turn for so um I had a a meeting this afternoon presser where I did announce my intent to retire on Monday June 30th and I would like to read aloud a letter that I have prepared for our esteemed Bo Dear honorable board president Dr Kathy Evans Brown and distinguished members of the Buffalo Board of Education this evening I am doing one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my professional career and that is announcing my retirement at the end of the school year my last day serving as the superintendent of the Buffalo Public School District will be on Monday June 30th 2025 after what
025has been a wonderful career that has spanned some 35 years I am ready for more flexibility in my life that will allow me to spend more quality time with family and friends my rise from a K12 student to the role of superintendent of schools has been a journey of hard work commitment and love the work is not easy but I have always attempted to do whatever job granted to me with Integrity service deep appreciation Grace honor and love I am so very grateful for the opportunities that I have had which I know have contributed to the education and growth of our children I must take some time to express my deepest gratitude to each of the board members SE here tonight and to those who are not seated here this evening but who I have
026had the distinct pleasure to work with throughout my years of service to my thousands of PS colleagues especially my esteemed cabinet can my cabinet stand [Applause] a special group special group we the last my esteemed cabinet parents caregivers school-based partners and the entire city of Buffalo and Western New York Community who took a chance on entrusting a novice superintendent with our children's education and who have uplifted our work thank you and to my children in the Buffalo Public School District every single one of you know that you are loved you have a village who believes in and wants the best for you and that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to why now some may ask it is because I believe our district is in a very good place we have all
027worked together to make the Buffalo Public School District a place where a community inspired 5 by 2025 strategic Plan gave our work focus and credibility enhanced academic achievement is happening every day a place where Safety and Security have been a top priority on all of our campuses offices and at athletic events where student and staff diversity has been welcomed and embraced as an asset it is our secret sauce a place where student outcomes Focus governments models endorsed by the Council of great City schools has been adopted by this board of education a place where student and parent voices are heard listen to and often guide important decisions where Community Partnerships have been expanded where all Learners have upto-date technological tools iPads and laptops a place for BPS is the first large Urban Pathway District to
028offer a stem curriculum which is W to all students in grades K through 12 a place where capital projects are at long last moving forward examples include improving the state STS in front of Bennett High School they look marvelous I don't know if you had a chance to see them but they look beautiful inclusion in our mayor mayor scan's Capital project budget right and the relocation of Leonardo da Vinci High School from its temporary building to school from school 8 at school 8 to an exciting and Innovative state-ofthe-art school that will be located on the campus of Buffalo State University a place where the real progress has been where there has been real progress made towards improving our food choices including efforts to develop a new C to chill Commissary for all BPS students where
029student enrollments are steadily increasing for the first time in over a decade where all it says 12 but it's 11 bargaining unit contracts are settled evidence that this board values the worth and professionalism of all of our staff where teachers and staff vacancies are on the decline in fact most all of our classrooms are filled with highly qualified certified staff we're adhering to the mental health needs of our children has been prioritized even during the ending of the arer fund source as evidenced by maintaining the positions of social workers colleges School nurses and guidance counselors a place where we implemented a three-tier bell schedule to help address the national bus driver shortage as a means to enhance instructional time in classes and a place where we've opened eight three wide educational programs to little Scholars
030that have been funded to acclimate our littlest Learners to the structure of pro-social skills in learning and safe and supporting learning environments in our schools I have shared just a few highlights that we have accomplished over the last three years there are not enough words to express my appreciation to all of the talented people who I have had the opportunity and honor to work with during my time in BPS know that I am completely committed to ensuring that my departure will not disrupt the excellent education and services provided by this District which is why I'm making this announcement at this early stage there is still much to do during my tenure and you can rest assured that I will continue to work hard for this District through the end of my term and Beyond I
031will always be a supporter of the Buffalo Public Schools I wish this District continued success in the future onward and upward sincerely [Applause] thank you dror [Applause] he's the reason he's the reason he's the reason okay so my response is to Bo president for this board on the statement of her retirement Dr Williams night began as superintendent during a very prous time and imately shifted the Outlook and trajectory of Buffalo Public Schools she has embraced open and thoughtful communication and a high level of accessibility and responsiveness to board members staff parents students and Community throughout her tenure Dr Williams KN has faced with praise and diligence significant tragedies and challenges not once wavering the board is grateful for her partnership and with transitioning to a student outcome focused governance she has worked with us to
032develop smart goals and invest in increasing reading and math proficiency and graduation rates Dr Williams Knight has emulated transparent parency yes by engaging in ongoing monitoring of progress with the board and the public thanks to Dr Williams Knight's leadership all students have access to the resources supports and tools they need to succeed in a classroom and beyond for instance our district district is the first large Urban Pathway School District to offer Sim W instruction to students in K through 12th grade as a result our students are learning robotics coding drones and even cyber security the district is also dedicated to improving student Literacy By investing in structured literacy and the district has already seen measurable results in a short period of time in addition Dr Williams Knight prioritize making our school safe and environments that
033Foster learning and celebrate our diversity Dr tonight also understood that the board values the professionalism and dedication of the district's staff and as a result settled 11 collective bargaining contracts so the district could continue to recruit and retain high quality professional a buffalo school student counselor principal central office min administrator and superintendent Dr William snight emulates the best of BPS and the City of Buffalo she has more than earned this opportunity to proudly retire and spend more time with her family we are forever grateful for all that she has given to our schools our students and their families and Community we know this will be a significant change the board intends to appoint an interim superintendent prior to Dr Williams Knight's retirement to Aid in a smooth transition we would then embark on a full
034search for a permanent superintendent we intend to be deliberate transparent and inclusive of the community we welcome genuine partnership and support as we begin this ever so important responsibility thank you Dr [Applause] W we told each other we work on CL so it's too late I truly do appreciate um every single opportunity rep has been power it's no question about it but um this for took a chance you know you took a chance and and for that I will always be appreciative and you've been with me every step of the way we've got new board members who have come on board and um when I call you answer and I just I appreciate you know you taking that chance I have tried my hom to deliver whatever this or has asked of me whatever our
035parents and the community have asked of me I have given it 100% And I mean when I say we do have a very talented professional experienced cabinet that works tirelessly and and when I get crazy ideas in my mind like a 60-day they're right there with me um you know Jeffrey gives me a look but he's right there with me and he's like you sure you want to do that at the time I was sure um you know I I do I want to thank all of you I see we've got Cass in the audience um you know our family has just grown um with so many Partnerships and and people that I can call on you know Civic leaders included and you know our media you know our media has been fair to theol
036and that you know has not always been a feeling in The Bu schools but you know we've tried hard to be welcoming and transparent and honest with our media and for that you know I appreciate the fairness um that you have sh you know given to us and you know I did a letter today specific to our BPS family our staff in schools and offices service center everywhere I want them to know that they have been valued and they have been seen and I I did another letter I got on a letter rant I get another letter to our parent Congress leads and you know it was it was specific to them to know that though we don't always agree I do truly appreciate that every other month they come to the table and we
037talk about things and that's how things you know happen that's how you begin to move you know by listening to one another and hearing and having an openness to do that and I did another letter to our community based Partners to let them know that they are truly a part of our extended family and I value their work because what they do with our children also helps to ensure that the achiev Rises the mental health needs are happening summer programming is happening all of those things are important as we're trying to do this work and and finally I did a test to some of our you know Western Med delegation and just to specific leaders who fight tirelessly to bring resources into this district for our children because our children deserve it and so I
038just want to share with the board that whatever the decisions are moving forward youve got a huge supporter from me in helping to make sure that the transition is seamless and that the work continues onward and upward and to my husband who I didn't know was some and brle flowers I want to thank you and thank you for sharing me with you know with my 30 thou our 30,000 children City of Buffalo thank you [Applause] thank you you'll be hearing more about this we just have to get it out in our February meeting um so more than likely we'll be hear more about it but until she reti [Music] minutes minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the January 15 meeting Larry all in favor oppos all right motion pass okay
039motion to accept consent agenda may I have a motion to accept the consent agenda all in favor noos okay so we have an exception list here okay 27 was that 27 or 28 support uh board member Adriana dulet has thought we going hi thanks I had submitted some questions and um did not get an answer to a few so I just wanted to clarify they're they're in the Q&A I saw two so I had asked these questions and I only see two answers okay so like okay so I was wondering um start off how many Afghan students attend Buffalo Public Schools I can get I have that it's about okay do we have any far SE interpreters housed at Ash Street Ash stre and I was wondering the Ben benefit in not collaborating with a
040community stakeholder and is there a benefit to students um to contract with Consultants from California so specifically we do have resettlement agencies um Jewish Family Services does capacity building work already and they are nationally renowned for the work they do BPS already contracts with JFS in the school district to provide trauma systems therapy with their team and they have already established relationships with students and families um so I'm just wondering if we consider them to partner with sorry to interrupt but I did answer that question I took all of your questions and what I sometimes do and summarize them so you'll see what it says in the opening answer to that that uh a group like Jewish Family Services and even some of our departments that certainly interface with our new American families don't have
041the expertise that this group particularly has when it comes to social emotional support and then preparing staff to be social emotional actors on their behalf so that's that's in the q& so it it didn't answer it for me okay okay so I mean I can I mean the answer I received was high expectations has been a previously approved successful vendor for BPS while the district does provide many strong Services the level of expertise provided by high expectations is unmatched particularly with social emotional learning that is specifically tailored for the needs of refugee families I mean b successful based on what I guess I just had questions it doesn't seem very measurable for me some of these goals um so in maybe I'll just go through him and expected outcomes serious quote serious short and long-term
042educational issues facing school age Refugee and immigrant children including those most recently arrived in this country are addressed end quote can you articulate what gaps exist among this population and what the expected outcome is for the afan students correct um so similar to many other students that come they potentially have experienced traumatic episodes previously especially in the process of coming to the United States the government has given us um a grant specifically to work with these students um so we we were looking for an agency that would be able to deal with some of the social emotional needs that these students with them and can with the families um there are obviously agencies around that can do work but in terms of capacity um they felt that this particular vendor who had also worked with
043the stat Department in the past um would be able to best serve the needs of these particular students we work with our partners locally in many different ways for example our academic coaches translations interpretations Etc um so I think the team that evaluated this would be fairly comfortable understanding the capacity of local as opposed to okay I was just wonder if we consider people because I mean we have some purposes like we will provide tools and resources to share their hopes and dreams with their child's school and partner with their child's teachers like we are not able to do that right now like our face department or clri or like JFS who is working with these students um I don't know how specifically JFS is working with this particular group of students okay um this
044vendor would come in and we have programs that we run in the summer at the school ET we they would be able to spend time with the families as well as the students um and help us with this work okay I guess for me starting in March 1 just two weeks seems like not a lot of time um it it feels a little rushed to me um I in what I'm sorry in what capacity Rush meaning it's a short amount of time that we have to work with the students or starting soon um starting soon because I was also looking at I mean like the onus is on us to provide participants to um attend like here the client responsibility for example recruit participants to attend the meeting have we identified participants so we've been
045working with the the population okay so there's an interest do you have an idea how many participants there will be or you hope to have I don't have the number three I sorry I wasn't prepared I didn't know you again I have additional questions I can get I submitted these questions I just didn't feel like they were they were answered I I just to me it didn't look like any it's it's a little abstract so I just wondering some of the measurable goals like there is a need but I'm just wondering like what achievement gaps like what exists did we identify that so we know we know what we're trying to do and then what does a success look like you children to the situation they're in now we obviously want to help them um
046interpreting ways of the school district how to effectively um function within the parameters of the school system it's an unknown entity to many of these families that have come um we have been running programming this grant is going to end fairly soon I believe um but and we want to maximize the capacity that we have prior to termination okay so it's it's your understanding that this company and all is the best for the job I didn't personally review it but that was my team if you have more speci if you want oh yeah no no I submitted questions I just didn't feel that they were okay I'll revisit it and we'll answer every one of those detailed questions more precisely we'll do that tomorrow okay thank you and then with these skills your team will
047get we can use that with um other immigrant populations as well okay thank you no sorry did you say that that expenditure so in the Q&A I did answer that question this particular Grant focuses just on the Afghan Comm replicate you have question no no literally just answer yeah I just would like to make a recommendation since we have two new board numbers what I would uh recommend that uh uh staff reaches out to them when they send a question in until they get their bearings and make sure all their questions are answered to specification before they come to the board table and that way um you know if you have additional questions you can ask the questions be brave of you to ask those questions and proud of with adri can I just ask
048um when were the question submitted yes right so I just want to clarify that that we're trying as a board to get um our materials out to ourselves earlier and then be more accountable to reading the materials and producing our questions with enough time for the team to be able to offer them like responses to us that give us that kind of space to digest it and hopefully if we have clarifying questions we can still ask them in the space um and so I know you and I talked about that like we're working towards trying to provide to you guys also earlier out of respect so that we can get those detailed responses um and get kind of the answers that you know we're hoping for yeah it sounds like you know the the respon
049not didn't meet your specification and so that's why she's stressing those points she felt like her answers weren't answered just to be clear I'm sorry to continue interrup me but I did try to reach out to you today to go over with you how all of your questions on I think get two emails would be answered we weren't able to connect and able to take the call so I'll make sure um no matter when you said the questions I'll make sure to continue trying to call you uh to make sure that we're on the same page with regard to what's going to be in the Q&A and you know just to make sure that your all of your questions are captured correctly I'll take care and I'll I'll try for Thursday Friday I had the
050thing is you know you know C right we're trying to this kind of um dialogue at the board meeting so to speak so we ready to time guys can I make a point then this still is an open board meeting and if a board member has asked a question and they want additional questions answered they have that that's the purpose of the board meeting thank you I just want to make sure that that's clear it's a little difficult though when the staff come up if the questions are real specific and we're asking like you know numbers for them to just oh know that's why I I submit in numbers but yeah I'll do it in a more timely fashion thank you I'm not deposing anybody Chief uh the next item I starting has question so
051this is our contract our transportation contract and um I'm trying to be very uh tasteful in saying this but I feel that uh there's an opportunity for us to save some additional money in regards to this contract um some for whatever reason superintendent and I did not connect this um this week um but um my concern is that after particularly after traveling and seeing what other districts are doing with AI that there's a missed opportunity with this District not using AI for their routing and as a result you know I did a little research and districts are reporting that they they've saved upwards of 40% in savings for transportation or whatever and every time a question comes up it's the it comes back normally that we uh we're we're under the gun we have to
052get this approved immediately because the state has to uh get us approved well uh if after the amount of years that we've been working with first student for them if we were a little late in uh getting something done uh I doubt seriously if we would not uh they would not continue to work with us but here's what my concern is is that one of the conversations that a board member recently shared is that there were 12 buses on his street okay 12 school buses we don't know if they were all Buffalo Public School buses it could have been private schools it could have been charter school I it was me and I said 15 15 okay and so under AI okay the system is set up you use the GPS they have uh they
053even take into consideration the weather uh conditions uh the patterns Etc and there's an opportunity for us to see if this is something that we should use to save money for this District the additional conversations that are being held in the community and I caution anyone and I'm serious about this uh who feels that our children particularly with what's going on in this country right now is limited to one part of the city to get their education uh it would be major in this city it would be I'm talking about common Council uh major that's how many people would come out in regards to this because this fought was fought in 1972 but in the same context the conversation is is taking children longer to get to place and here to have a tool available
054and we're not using it with AI to make sure that we are more efficient that we are doing things that we're making sure that things are uh flowing smoother to me feels that we're moving a little bit too fast with uh the amount of money we're agreeing to do at this point um and I'm concerned about that because the next superintendent will have to deal with this contract for the next five years the other people piece that I want to talk about this is the community benefits piece we was was shared with us that there are certain things that our first student does and kudos to First Student however we are an urban District if there's an event at the Erie County uh uh Fair guess what what's wrong with providing some buses since we're
055paying the Lion Share for transportation in the cost in this area and so I don't want to minimize the work that you've done David and and your team and I'm not being disrespectful but I think to put this convers to put this contract on the table without taking an additional step to see what AI could bring to the table to make sure that we are more efficient and that we're not going to be paying extra money that we don't have to pay it's just not something that should be being done and if we get to the point where we find out that we we're working Ai and that we are uh looking like there might be some improvement and if we have to do a Year's contract with the First Student in order to get
056to that point then we would have time to do it later but I'm really concerned at this point that by not using the technology that's available that we're missing we're missing some things and that's what I wanted to share today and I just feel that this item right here should be tabled until we are able to at least look and see if there are any additional cost savings available to this District if there are any additional Time Savings available to this district and if there are other things that are available by using AI for this and that's what I'm saying that's what my concern is about this contract and it's no it's not a reflection on First Student because we are responsible for doing the routing not them but I just don't feel when I
057when the comment came back uh in the board questions that uh we do the routing and we have not used AI it it it it makes me a little nervous um um from everything that I trained or attended seminars on AI is has helped districts to be very efficient in the work that they're doing okay and so when we look at the cost in our transportation department etc etc I yeah I know um that and I'm concerned about that and so often times we're told that we have to do something because if we don't we risk being out of compliance in this particular case if we don't take the time at this point we probably are uh costing the district more money than we have to uh pay out at this point so that's what
058I wanted to say and I intend on um not voting for this if it does if it makes it across this table uh today and I hope in this particular case that the message is not destroyed because of the messenger thank you thank you member Sharon David do you want do you want now or wait if there's two other board members that have comments um I I could I would answer now and um so we use a sophisticated program called many districts use vers trans what is it called vers trans um vers trans has built-in algorithms built in programming it forecasts it allows us to do very quick on spot changes we have investigated one company um alpab rout very significantly that came out of Boston it was a partnership between the Boston public schools
059and um the MIT and they use machine learning and predictive algorithm algorithms and reactive AI so similar to uh deep blue that plays chess uh and they worked out routing solutions for Boston public schools and they they brought their company to several other uh locations we did get some quotes for them for analysts to look at our routes and also for uh them to take over routing what that would look like uh one thing that stopped chilled those conversations was last year when Louisville Kentucky had to cancel their first week of classes because of a disastrous implementation of AI um Columbus gave alpar rot a 1 $6 million contract for their routing and um they found that they were not able to make adjustments quickly change routes um and they went back to Versa trans
060within weeks of school opening Cincinnati public schools also uh rejected alpar rout there are some large scale companies um hopskip Drive who is working in 21 um different districts across the United States you'll notice of them in our are in New York Cate postive drives they use algorithms they use machine learning and they use it to um change routes they also use it to use ride sharing services in fact they started as a ride sharing service so they are able to say instead of having a bus we will send a driver who doesn't have a CDL to pick up this one St and right now we do send a lot of CDL drivers to pick up single students because in New York state you have to have a CDL anytime you transport students for school
061purposes so none of these companies another company in fact when we did the RFP they had probably the most questions um submitted was is zum out of out of um Los Angeles and they just they got La United last year for 400 million um but again they use the same model of um ride sharing in fact they started as a ride sharing company so there are systems out there but right now we put out a bid we do look at Versa trans every year if vers trans is something we need to look at replacing we do an RFP for a new system um but that's completely separate and if we do in year two of this contract do a change in our routing process Implement a whole new system um and use another competitive system
062maybe a full AI system and we don't know where large language models are moving and how that will change over the next two years if we reduce routes we would reduce our costs um these costs are based on the number of routes we predicted we would need um if the district Grows by 10% and we need 10% more routes we would wind up paying more if we reduce the number of routes or per student isn't able to provide that number of drivers pay less so typically we pay $10 million less than what's estimated any given year so if we do in the future reduce our routs but right now um every company we've pursued for AI and looking at their their systems and I've talked to the COO in Columbus um they do have neighborhood
063schools um they do have significantly less students transported than us and they they uh they do use hop skip drive for some things they use private for some things New Jersey using private Vans for some things um we are in New York state um and there's a reason why we didn't get anything but the typical biders for this because New York state has a lot of regulations for transportation that we have um so it's I appreciate the forward view because we have looked at this aggressively and it is a question that needs to be asked how can we use these large models that are capable crunching mathematical um Solutions and doing predictive work and we we have talked to the traffic study people in the area about areas of high traffic vers the trans does
064pull that data in they pull a lot of data in for their routing there may be better out there but that's separate from the first student contract if we can make efficiencies in our routing we wouldn't save money but we also have a lot of experience and one thing that you know as I said Columbus went back to vers trans because it does allow very quick manipulation of a route and we are a district that's very fluid what Alpha route very often does is create multis school routes um in Columbus they went to nine different time zones for schools so there were nine different times so they could take kids from one school to another to another um for their their choice zones they had they had Choice zones and then they have neighborhood school
065so it's much less complicated um but we went with the three tier system we went with reducing the load on the system we were able to go down from 684 drivers six years ago um seven years ago sorry down to 468 right now we feel the ideal for the system now would be around 500 that would allow us to shorten some of the routes that are problematic um but we we do regularly have our routers that do the job running the routes to make sure versatrans got it right the versat trans does we we put in the stops it gives us the best route does a lot of predictive work on it does a lot of work on and if you know the streets sometimes have to say wait a second this street it may
066look like that on the map it may look like that in the data set but if you ever drive down it there's cars parked on both sides and you won't get down into the bus so we do have we do do some of that human of people have had experience of driving buses all of our routers have had CDL experience so they've driven buses they've routed buses they've worked in terminals so they have a lot of experience at the streets of buffal so but there is it is very promising I don't know I don't think it saves us much right now or that it is particularly Germaine as part of this contract um so why isn't there a benefit just to Buffalo Public students since they're paying the Lion Share the a First Student in
067this area any benefits right I saw the the items that you had listed on here you listed um several things but that was not there um I guess David and we've had this conversation on Madam superintendent on numerous occasions about making sure that our school our children who continue to pay the Lion Share whether it's the section six or some of the other things uh in addition to that receive additional benefits a sort of took me uh take took me a back when I looked at the fact that you're sponsoring Erie County Fair but we got Urban kids that can't get to the fair okay they need a bus ride to get to the fair okay in order for them to enjoy the fair that the benefit of it meanwhile other children Suburban children are
068benefiting from it and we're and we're paying the Lion Share and for whatever reason no one is looking at what can we do for buffalo in a different way because they are paying the Lion Share okay and and that's a concern for me okay it's not just the first time it's a concern it's concern for me on a regular basis isn't it it is okay because you have not because you ask not okay and that's how I sincerely feel and um I'm i' I've been active in the transportation committee and for whatever reason okay there are people who I feel that it's okay to and and your guys presented something recently they took us pooling decided that five buses didn't have to go that way we could save five buses if it didn't go if
069if you didn't send them to that school okay but we have yet to look at the overtime associated with uh departments to make sure that we've cut those down we have yet to look at AI to make sure that we're doing everything and and contrary to popular belief AI is showing that it is more efficient uh than um most humans because it takes everything into consideration so I I appreciate your comment I'm just concerned that at this point we continue to do the same thing the same way that we did it before over and over again and we're not getting different results and I I sincerely feel that way and I feel that first student has let us down as a district but not making sure that Buffalo receiv some sort of extra benefit for
070being associated with them and I don't know what you guys do on a regular basis with them but that's how I feel okay that's exactly how I feel okay and I'm going to continue to feel that way until I see some sort of benefit agreement for our students thank you I I do um hopskip Drive had a fairly successful implementation at Colorado Springs in District 11 so I I think that's that's there at the top of my list from the research I did um and I have not connected with the clo there but they were on the top of my list from the research that I did and I took at least an hour or so uh since our last meeting to go through these different and look at different things about these different um
071um I AI programs and um you know we have to we do have to function within New York State Transportation are very prohibitive so I understand that but I also from what I read they they are able to tailor it to the needs of the school district I read that on all of them um and I also checked on that alpar route and uh software uh one route planner there's quite a few very good ones out there zoom zoom is another one Z zum okay so it sounds like there are some benefits to AI but there have also been some drawbacks in certain districts um with AI um is it something that it sounds like Che Hills has you know done some research you know on it um but what I heard you say is
072that that's a separate issue from this contract because we do yeah but still we're paying per per bus we're paying per trip right and if they're if they're bragging a hot skip is bragging that they can reduce somewhere between 25 to 40% okay uh that's significant for the size of this contract really some of the trade offs AI that got have been to go to 90-minute routes have been to make sure buses are completely full maximize every seat so some of the trade-offs are like in Charlotte meinberg if you want a bus you get a number at registration you log on to alphar Route and they tell you what your bus is and it might take you a month to get a bus two months well that's their problem that's not ours I just want
073to make sure that we we start using AI whenever we can I think we we we need to position ourselves towards the future thank you I appreciate that all right uh Mr that was a good conversation well you kind of answered the question through the conversation that we just had I wanted to know what if any research had been done to investigate whether or not we could look at the routing for AI and then the cost associated with it right and it sounded fairly significant I don't recall the exact figures you gave but it was around the tun of like a million dollars if we were to bring it in um to start with and then you know I did appreciate the examples that you offered um in terms of what's working what's not working
074in those places very much to the point that the superintendent made um and that the fact that this is a separate right these are two conversations yes one impacts the other but they actually are separate conversations for the point of today and what needs to happen today um and so I did want to kind of bring that out I know that there was question about the AI and I think that we kind of got a long answer as to how that works that there has been investigation so I hope that that is helpful um I'm looking at board member Woods because I know she has some some inquiry on it as well and so I was hoping to help bring some light to that um but I think that I just personally can speak on
075the fact that I recognize that thank you for all of your work towards it and what you just shared with us tonight because it was really helpful and I didn't know that um and then understanding that they're separated you know I just want to highlight that while I understand the need for us to vote for it and I'm not saying I'm not going to vote for it um personally I do also just ask that first student hears we need you to do better um for our kids and I just want that out there um and I recognize we are doing better but we still even if it is 1% of the kids and it's only you know whatever that number turns out to be out of the grand scheme it still does impact and we
076did hear that tonight and I just wanted to you know throw that out there um but otherwise I am good thank you and we will continue to address yes one more question um wood okay um as you hear you hear had discussions with the community fellow board members and $453 million is a significant amount of money the community wanted to know what are we going to do do to improve the performance so that as you heard our children so they get the school on time so that they don't miss their classes the children have spoken we cannot continue to do business as usual we do have to improve and we do need a commitment since you have thank you for the examples but we do need to move to the new technology some one of
077these some of these to improve what's going on what is we cannot stay stagnant so we need a commitment to further investigate to change something in a time frame time to time frame because the children can't be standing on the in the snow Banks the children don't want the long rides and the parents want them home so we need to commit to changing something moving forward whatever Tech Tey we can get we cannot stay stagnant that's the message I got abut and thank you Cindy for and thank you for your information but we need to move forward all right thank you thank you Hills um are there any other questions the concern agenda we have a motion to approve the [Music] agenda on the consent agenda um do vote board member belon no exception to
078sub 18i first student transportation contract I no exceptions uh board member MOS no exceptions board member sh uh recuse from 18 D and GCE president exception 17b other than that no exceptions 17 B thank you um board member Woods exception 18i for no board member zish no and president EV so [Music] all right no resolutions at this time so unfinished business and I have a motion authorize in the district to fully settle pending litigation before the New York state supreme court with index number 813 2019 and amount not toce $5,000 Judah Woods um all in favor any objection okay i' like to go that okay okay can I have a motion authorizing the district to fully sever pending litigation before the UN state supreme court was index number 81 2022 and the amount not to
079exceed $10,000 and Shan all in favor any exceptions and then lastly can I have a motion authorizing the district to prefer section 75 disciplinary charges against employees TV all favor any objections all right thank you and then Jen under unfinished business has a comment on student I have an announcement that we we always know we have really wonderful students who do more than just just come to school and learn or participate or just there uh we have students who enter contests for different all kinds of different things I don't think we recognize them enough so in our Native American magnet school number 19 uh Joseline ISAC has uh designed a t-shirt the orange for orange shirt day for Native American culture and she has the winning uh design if you look at buffaloschools.org and go
080to the Native American or the clri pages you'll see the design it'll be up it'll be up tomorrow at some point this week but I just want to recognize that you know we our students are participating in more than just what they're supposed to be participating in and uh anytime something like this comes across you know if we're looking for student outcomes this is a fantastic student outcome M you may ask what her name is again Joseline ISAC okay I'll be at school 19 for my cor tomorrow oh well check that out you would think that was planned all right so with that said um [Music] bement was that already voted on your G those were approved previously it was just a reminder she is read November 5th Deborah gradwitz sister-in-law of Jackie Hart a
081teacher at Waterfront school December 23rd Sherry Hart sister of Jackie Hart a teacher at Waterfront school December 31st Donald e gidney uncle of antoinet Amos chief of diversity equity and inclusion January 15th Mary Francine suran sixth grade English teacher at City honors January 24th Mary Shoemaker mother of Mark Shoemaker principal at school number 59 January 30th Joseph J buio retired BPS music teacher beloved husband of retired speech pathologist Jane NE belon cousin of BPS employees Jamal khil and Sharon Belton Cotman retired teacher Donna Wilson khabib adored son-in-law a former BPS teachers and State education administrator Doris belon and the late John Belton January 30th D Douglas Blakeley substitute teacher husband of teacher Aid Larin Blakeley father of Dennis Blakeley case manager Adult Ed Uncle of Alicia transo Adult Ed brother-in-law of Dorene Hill retire retired
082School clerk 92 February 1st Ronald L lotempio senior beloved father of Kathleen Timothy ctz reading support teacher at school 69 hotton Academy February 3rd Jeremy M Constantino fiance of Love slating instructional coach at Community School 53 February 6th Edward Macho cologne loving husband of Catherine Rivera compliance account clerk typist audit Department dedicated leader and mentor to many Buffalo youth the BPS Community was well served by Macho February 7th Paul E kosek retired BPS teacher beloved husband of Mary C kosek retired BPS teacher and February 8th Walter E cook III retired Buffalo teacher coach and sports official just take a moment thank you thank you I have a motion to [Music] meeting I got watch