001e e e you want to do I can do like a long all right uh good evening everyone can you hear me as are we live I don't know are you live Jim I can I don't know test one two three hello hello I think it's just the fan could it be the fan no all right we we're live so good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's uh board meeting I ask that everyone stand uh for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one na under God indivisible with liy and justice for excellent all right well thank you everyone for coming tonight and um we have a somewhat of a short agenda so I know tomorrow is
002going to be a big day in the history of Cornwall so hopefully we can get through this relatively quickly so everyone can be brigh eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow's long day um so with that said I would like to ask if if there's anyone in the audience who would like to uh provide us any of their comments please come forward state your name uh after grabbing a microphone anyone okay well then let's uh move on to the next which is our one of our favorite topics uh for every regular session meeting is our student updates and tonight we have again uh Nick and Kate and I'm not sure who drew this first straw but uh please Nick and Kate take it away all right so is it all right is it on okay so
003we're gonna start off with Willow Avenue good news for me we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week May 6th through the 12th Willow teachers were shown lots of love and appreciation from our students families and PTO a big thank you for all that they do and to our PTO for making everyone feel so special the fourth grade spring concert with fourth graders from cooh and Willow took place on May 14th the students wowed us with their musical talents and each Ensemble put on an amazing performance our fourth graders also visited the middle school this month while they they were went on a scavenger hunt and got to ask the middle schoolers all of their questions they are definitely ready for Middle School third graders took a walk on the wild side when they traveled to the Bron
004Zoo they explored the zoo and learned all about the different animals in their habitats The Sensational second graders took a walking trip to the Cornwall Historical Society students created their own family trees and Mrs camlet analyzed them to find out where their families originated from students enjoyed exploring artifacts of cornwall's history and visiting Town Hall we are looking forward to a fun and busy June as we count down to the last day of school all right and moving on this is Cornwall Elementary School good news the month of May has been jam-packed at Cornwall elementary school from May 6th to May 10th our amazing PTO put together a full schedule of events for teachers and staff appreciation week this year's theme was our teachers are out of this world the PTO celebrated all their hard
005work of our teachers with a bagel breakfast on Monday Sensational salad and sub luncheon on Tuesday Cosmic coffee cart on Wednesday Galactic goodies hand delivered on Thursday and an astronaut Frozen Yogurt Bar on Friday we are so lucky to have such a wonderful PTO who are always going above and beyond for our students on May 7th Mrs Gleason's and Mrs Moore's third grade classes finally released their trout into the wild the students watched these trout grow from egg to alivin to fry and to fingerling then they set them free in the creek behind our school so much was learned from watching them grow and go through their life cycle Gavin lock a kindergartener student from Mrs Osborne's class taught himself how to play piano without ever taking a lesson Gavin was able to learn the
006golden hour he is also advanced in Reading Writing and Mathematics Gavin has made amazing strides in Mrs Osborne's class this year we love having the opportunity to watch our students succeed and grow both inside and outside of the classroom Mr Baldock from cchs as well as another parent in Mrs prisco's first grade class brought in baby chicks for the students to see they shared some facts about the baby chicks such as how they like to be together because they are social animals they will be full grown in 18 weeks and they will lay eggs one day also everyone in the class got the opportunity to hold the baby chicks what a fun day we are now looking forward to the fourth grade field day K through 4 Funday lots of field trips fourth grade moving
007up ceremony and many other end of the the Year celebrations all right and I have good news for Co the PTO held its annual talent show on Friday April 26th there were there were 22 acts involving more than 33 students and one teacher performance each Act was extremely polished and the audience was thoroughly entertained thank you to the PTO and Mrs zareski and Mr and Mrs landestoy for putting the show together the fourth grade students visited the Middle School School in person on Monday April 29th the Middle School administration and members of the counseling department greeted them with open arms the students participated in a scavenger hunt that brought them around the building with current fifth grade students it was a great introduction to life in middle school thank you to Mrs Palumbo and her
008staff on May 14th the cooh and Willow fourth grade band Orchestra and chorus came together to perform at their annual Spring Concert the students enjoyed performing with peer musicians from the opposite elementary schools a dress rehearsal was held on the morning of the concert for all third grade students both from both elementary schools at the high school all performing groups did a fine job teacher appreciation week was held May 6th through May 10th thank you to the PTO for putting together a theme for each day for example on Tuesday the students were asked to bring in a flower or a picture of a flower to show their appreciation needless to say each classroom had an array of beautiful flowers on display the week culminated in a wonderful Lon on May 10th the cooh PTO hosted
009their annual Spring Fling fourth grade students from all three elementary schools gathered at cooh despite the weather the students had a wonderful time dancing to great music eating awesome snacks and playing GaGa ball again thank you to the PTO from all three elementary schools for helping with the event all right good news from the Middle School incoming CCMS fifth grade students had an opportunity to visit the middle school in May students were matched up with current fifth grade students for a scavenger hunt around the middle school learned about classes programs and activities the students then had an opportunity to meet with some professional middle school students seventh graders and asked them questions about CCMS incoming fifth grade parents were welcomed to the middle school with an orientation parents learned all about CCMS and Adolescent development
010Mr Quick our school counselor shared one shared the role of school counselors for our fifth grade students and how they will be assisting our students in their transition to CCMS this evening CCMS Orchestra students participated in the Cornell Central School District Strings showcase this event is a beautiful way to Showcase The District Strings program and good news from the high school as the year winds to oh May has been full of activity for all cchs students as the year winds to an end finals are Among Us congratulations to those who who took AP exams all your hard work has not gone unnoticed the second annual Dragon Day took place on May on Sunday May 19th and it was loved by the community the student Leadership Council did a great job fundraising and organizing this event
011to help benefit senior scholarships members of the Cornell Central High School band Orchestra treble choir concert choir jazz band and mixed chorus participated in their spring concerts over the past two weeks all the members of these groups Rose to the occasion and performed with true confidence and musicianship seven our seven of our cchs 9th grade musicians were selected to participate at the junior high all count music festival at Monroe Woodbury these musicians excelled at a challenging audition back in February and were honored to perform with the top 300 musicians from around Orange County with Sports beginning to wind down we want to give our continued support to the track and field team in their ongoing accomplishments with the girls placing first overall and the boys second overall at counties this past last week looking forward
012we want to wish the Juniors a safe and fun prom on Thursday well excellent thank you so much for both of you sharing that good news I know this is a tough time of year especially for seniors and so I I ask that you uh consider yourself dismissed so you can go and and partake in your final preparations as you get ready for graduation thank you all right thank you so much have a good night you too okay um after that good news I think we should just rest but uh we still have some more things to talk about this evening so that brings us to uh superintendent's uh report Terry thank you John so uh we had a lot of conversations okay I've got it all right so um at the beginning of this
013year we had convers about uh changing the cycle uh that we um have in place for approving uh superintendent goals uh so as promised um my team met as we usually do uh this time of year we already met with our principes and directors in a mini retreat uh to talk about uh goals for uh next year both at the district level and the building and Department level uh so I just want to sh share kind of our thinking um right now see if there's any uh things for uh consideration uh because the plan moving forward would be over the summer uh to really solidify uh the superintendent goals and the board goals so that we're not in the cycle of having conversations like that in O October uh where that train has left the
014station and um the district is rocking and rolling uh so uh the three uh areas that um I'd like to focus on for next next year uh the first being around the uh 2024 engagement survey um I have a good amount of experience with this it is no joke to take an ample uh data set like that analyze it and figure out what next steps are going to be over the course of a year and then to engage in that engagement survey again at the end of next year so my number one goal will be to uh provide the leadership necessary to really work with our principles our Department chairs the board um with regards to identified areas that we could um grow in and the strategies that that would um entail uh next year
015so I think that that goal is spot on um and it's going to be the work that we're doing anyway uh next year uh goal number two uh is really a continuation of uh this year's uh goal in the area of um diversity equity and inclusion uh very very proud of the work of our community our board um and uh the diversity equity and inclusion committee itself uh that really showed an exemplary manner um how uh tough conversations can happen without being the headline in a new story um when we're trying to um benefit all of our students so I'm very proud that we have a policy in place my second goal is really in in alignment with that policy um so goal number two is in collaboration with the CCSD Dei committee uh develop
016and begin to implement um a plan to ensure Equitable access and opportunity in order to promote greater achievement for all students hopefully that sounds familiar because that's verbatim uh from uh the policy and then goal area number three um I think that we haven't uh spent enough time uh really focused on this as the district is really around our growing enl uh student population uh so it's going to be really looking at uh what we're currently doing what should we enhance that we're doing really really well and then what are some areas that we could grow and improve in um with regards to ensuring that all of our enl students are achieving academically and what gets lost in that equation far too often is they're um working to achieve academically all the while becoming proficient
017in the English language so uh that would be goal area number three open to any questions feedback any questions so so Terry I think it would be useful I think it's been great that we're getting ahead of the game catchup is is is always tough and as they say if you fall behind you're going to get left behind right we we don't want repeats of the past so thank you for meeting with the folks already um I guess I guess next steps is for the board to provide you some early feedback I know in the summer it'll become a little bit more formalized we're ahead of the game but to to provide some feedback so so I know this is the first that people are hearing about it this evening what Terry's initial thoughts are
018from uh input from his team in the like so so would it be appropriate I think so if you think about it and then next time we meet which I believe is our last meeting of the year in June to to either flesh out or provide some you know comments feedback um we're not we're not looking to finalize anything we're we're looking to provide some some valuable feedback to Terry uh so we can move this forward um does that sound like a plan knowing that the target date to have this finalized would be what July at the latest in August as as opposed to September or October right that's what I think we're all working towards yes Christine refresh my memory when will the survey results be compiled and give you a high level overview
019of what you're so that's a that's a that's a that's a fair question uh we'll talk about the survey we hope to have the survey results in a manner for Board review at our next meeting so so so I think things are starting to kind of fall into place but it's an excellent excellent question and I think without that you're kind of uh um left to the the wind right you don't know Direction exactly it it helps things yep great question anyone else Brendan uh maybe this is a a question for you and for Jim as well I know that Jim you've sent out those emails uh regarding the board goals I apologize have been my har is on fire with the budget videos and all that stuff um how is this going to D
020how are these processes going to dub Tail cuz I think this is great and I I think when we talk about superintendent goals it's important to identify what other aspects or or what other parts of the goal creation process we still have to cross so that we don't just funnel all of our goals feedback into his superintendent goals because I can think of a bunch of goals off the bat that aren't really superintendent goals but would be funnel into this so maybe we can talk just briefly about that so we can see the whole picture there so that's a great question uh Jim hop in when when I get done look this is all about alignment right and I think that alignment process happens two ways right um there's a bottom up component to it
021and there's also a top down and where the two kind of meet is where the discussions happen Okay um it would be great for people to provide Jim um feedback on where they think uh the board should focus focus and the district should focus going forward now some of that going to come out probably from the results of the engagement survey and we'll have that next week so that conversation is going to start at I think the next meeting and then you get works the you brainstorm you iterate iterate iterate and then eventually you get to a point where you've finalize to ensure that there is alignment and not you know Divergent passs amongst what the board is looking for what the community desires and needs and what Terry and his staff have focused their
022efforts towards making happen so so that alignment process I think is a a work in progress and Terry's goals is the first step in that I think our next step is to respond to Jim with and then he will collate and try to percolate the common themes that emerge and then with the engagement survey we'll kind of look at all these three things next time and see how that all plays out Jim you got anything more to add uh no I think that's fair I think I'll just add that um ultimately I think the engagement survey is the first step towards a long range planning process which we all wanted to work on this year um the we are finalizing the RFP for that we've identified four vendors to send that RFP to so I
023think ultimately we kind of do this a little backwards and in the long run the long range planning the goals will fall out of that um but until we get to that point um I think what John described as accurate um I sent out an email saying hey everybody send me your goals I've had one member say I'm going to send you goals in two areas uh to be fair to myself I said H I'm probably going to have goals in these two areas and I didn't write them down either so uh in any kind of formalized way so I I I was ready to maybe kick off that discussion uh this meeting if we had that but um so let's try and in the next uh week week and a half if anybody has
024suggestions for goals please them to email them to me not that I'm the keeper of them just as John said if three or four people send the same exact thing they can be combined into one goal and then we can discuss as a board uh at the June meeting kick off that discussion right so just to clarify because I think there's probably some some confusion perhaps that I created unintentionally I I asked Jim to to reach out to the board to get that input right so so it's you know we're a leadership team of sorts we work together we try to uh um you know make things happen and uh if it's come from Jim please I hate to say you know make the assumption but I can't imagine something coming from Jim that he
025and I haven't talked about and and we're on board together with so so that said it's it's really important that we collaborate and work together on this because otherwise we're putting Terry and his team in you know between a rock and a hard place so so I know everyone's been busy so if you can you know spend uh uh a couple hours thoughtfully thinking about what you'd like to see and what we need and provide that feedback to Jim that would be really helpful thank you Christine couple hours I don't know John um my question is really I'm slow I'm not a quick study like you so it takes me longer um so I don't know if it's appropriate is it possible for us to get the data from the survey prior to the meeting
026so that we can have an informed discussion because otherwise I'm making goals based on you know my kind of what I would like versus what I think the community teachers and students are telling us I my My Hope Is that we will have again some form of of analysis and results for for our view for the board's view before the meeting yes okay but don't let that be the single driver right some of the brainstorming process is just reflecting on what you you know incorporating what others feedback is and what they're looking for is important don't get me wrong but uh um if we wait on that we may be waiting uh um to the last second I don't want that to occur can I add one more please it's important too just to send
027me your thoughts if um and I will distribute everybody's thoughts again I'm not I'm just I'm a secretary in this Enterprise it's important that even if we decide as a board that something and issues raised we say you know that doesn't rise to the level of being one of the three or four most important things that we're going to do this year doesn't mean that it's not an important issue that we shouldn't tackle just because something's not in the board goals doesn't mean that we can't take it on as a board uh if appropriate to take on as a board you know so I think it's important to to put all these those issues out there um just even if they don't make it into the goals they may be a worthy uh Endeavor of
028their own yeah really good conversation on the superintendent report report um Terry do you have anything else to add because I think we've segue into the president's report which which is which is great because it kind of reduces the things that I was going to talk about so just to to be clear uh uh we talked about goals I can scratch that off my list that I had um we talked about uh the survey um let me provide some some data uh that Terry was kind enough to uh uh assemble for us and uh as everyone's aware I think the survey closed Friday at close of business whatever close of business is defin us but but I have to say that I'm very impressed by the participation rate or the respondent rate that we received
029okay um some of these numbers uh uh are astounding um and so let me kind of go through each of our groupings with everyone so they understand uh like who's performed the best because there are some Stellar performances that I I want to highlight in terms of respondent rates okay so school performance scan which was basically a scan of the schools of instructional and non-instructional staff um we had over responses to the survey um those are individuals responding which gives us a response rate of about 70% which when we talked about how we would define success 70% was like a threshold was considered as a great Target but according to I think our our our advisers right the engagement folks that are helped us with the survey they thought that that would be just exceptional
030it be quite the standard and so from a staff perspective we're at 70% pretty good okay so from a secondary student voice which is middle school high school we are at well we have about 19900 middle schoolers and and and high schoolers combined we had over 1,500 responses which gives us a response rate of 85% wow the Middle School carried the day with a 96% response rate 96% of the middle schoolers responded to the survey 96% that's a A+ in anybody's book I tell you that's fantastic okay so let's talk about elementary school all right so we had about 414 not about we did have 414 responses of a population remember we did it what from fourth third and fourth so so so 442 was the population a response rate of 94 4% of elementary
031school students of that population cooh they get the gold star 100% fantastic followed by Ces at 93% and Willow at 90% still all exceptional that's just great now that brings me to like the family engagement survey which is we've been new about how would you model a successful family engagement right you have sometimes one parent sometimes you have two parents maybe you have you know grandparents and parents depending on the family situation how that how How would how would you define success well I started looking at it from a response perspective against the number of students we have right similar to how you kind of look at when you're doing a development right how how many kids per family are you going to what you going to have so from a family engagement survey we
032had 715 family responses and depending on how the calculus goes I see a response rate of anywhere from 57% down to about 35% still that's more than what we get on normal school votes on budget day and uh uh for candidates and and and and the like so so so I think overall this this activity at least from the numbers right incredibly successful and so overall that translates to about a 70 to 75% rate of response which means I think the communication of this was a exceptional and all the different mechanisms that were used to get people uh aware and then tickled to respond seems to have worked so hats off to everyone involved fantastic job and as Christine points out our next step will be to see what the feedback actually looks like the
033content of that but with this I so far so good in terms of success So Christine come a presentation that is part of the plan yes it it's it's okay so that's on the survey Jim mentioned the RFP let me kind of enrich that a little bit so um I believe that we have the elements agreed to Terry I'm looking at Jim both because we've been working on this for a while so I think we now need to take some of the boilerplate language that we normally use for rfps uh um have that attached to the specific aspects of the uh the engagement that engagement task that we're looking at and then send it out and I I think that happens this week Terry what do you say is that a as much as we
034can Harvey's been a little busy with uh budget but once we get through the votes we'll tackle the it should it'll be our next big right yeah absolutely so the the the thought there just to to Circle back with everybody in terms of timeline is that we'll have responses on the RFP so that we can at least frame not just the engagement but the costs associated with it and then have a more meaningful discussion of whether you want to do it or not because I think everyone would like to do it it's just a matter of time expense and uh other issues that we need to to to flesh out but I think we're making good progress on that so so hopefully we'll have something tangible to to Really discuss uh uh provided to everyone
035before our meeting so we can discuss it at our next meeting seem fair okay um that takes me to the last item um okay and that is as you know we're kind of down the stretch we come we just had the preus this last weekend I didn't get to to watch it but um the end of the school year is soon there are a lot of housekeeping steps that we need to do um we have two specifically that that are our responsibility the board's responsibility that I will be sending an email out uh um tomorrow and asking for your input one has to do with super uh EV Terry's uh uh evaluation he's already um put together his uh uh his own self assessment along with uh accompanying uh um what I'd call support lack
036of better term so we have the superintendent of Val that we need to to to accomplish uh um I'll get into the specifics when I send out the email but what we're looking to do is have that finalized uh um at least from a feedback everyone provides their feedback before we roll it all up before uh next meeting so our next meeting I believe is the 8th so if I can have everyone's responses uh by the fourth that gives me a couple days then to kind of collate and aggregate all the responses so then we have a tangible document that we can then put out and then and discuss and and and and meet with terion uh I think overall we need to have this finalized by the 30th of June but I do want
037to have that uh that conversation uh um once we roll up everyone's uh input on this okay uh the second item is our own avow board avow we're getting uh as you know we've established as a goal that we're going to do this every year I will put that as the second part of that email that I'll send out tomorrow uh along with you know the linkages to get into that um and I thank everyone for their cooperation and input in making those uh reties happen okay great thank you Jim that's my yeah and uh um that then takes us to that is it yeah it is so um CL they will move on to the consent agenda I'm sorry uh consent agenda um is there anyone um wishing to have have a item on
038the consent agenda discussed separately right now we have uh um one two I'd like to pull item number six please so item number six is the flyer Fernandez LLC okay Jim got that is there anyone uh Christian number five number five is placement of cpsc and SC or csse cases okay anyone else so we have five and six we will discuss separately um so could I have a motion for the consent agenda that will consist of items uh two through 4 and seven through nine so moved thank you in a second thank you very much all in favor I I any opposed all right motion passed thank you very much okay so let's do this in order numerically um a motion for item number five placement of CPS and csse cases motion please so moved
039second okay discussion Christian okay thank you for that um all right so motion second we've had our discussion I think uh all in favor I I any opposed any extensions say yes that's Christian you're Q you're got it all right so let the record reflect eight Ys one exstension all right thank you Linda okay so that then brings us to item number six which is the uh flyer Fernandez LLC uh taxer resolution may have a motion so moved thank you uh discussion Jim uh same as Christian I just need to abstain from this vote excellent any other discussion all right all in favor I I any opposed any abstentions abstain so Linda let the record reflect eight A's one abstention thank you all right fantastic okay so then that uh moving right along um that
040brings us to our non-consent agenda uh new business before we uh have a uh a motion in a second uh uh or a second on this let me let me kind of tee up this issue issue um just to kind of review where we've been um on this item the policy committee uh under uh Jim's uh leadership was working on a number of of policies this year um prior to this year there was an item um excuse me that uh um I believe uh Bass was uh um looking to have added or uh added to our policy manual and proposed a policy um that happened toward the end of last year if I recall um that moved on to this year's workbench and the policy committee reviewed it vetted that proposed policy um actually was
041able to consider some legal opinion that was provided again this is end of last year beginning of this year that I think the Honeywell memo came out on this particular policy issue as well as other items um the policy committer committee considered all of the the various uh angles associated with this and uh as a result uh uh took a vote on it the vote was is uh I believe 3 to one um where the policy committee did not recommend that this policy be presented to the full board for consideration then the next step is as everyone knows about our uh policy framework policy 2410 allows for board members uh to be afforded the opportunity when a uh uh a Committee Action is not in keeping with uh um what they believe is uh uh
042proper that that issue can be elevated to the full board that way a committee doesn't have the full power of the board it's the full board and the committee actually works on behalf of the uh um the board so it all types works and earlier this this year uh the proposed policy I received a request for this proposed policy to be put before the full board uh for consideration um there's been a number of items that I think that have been circulated one is the policy itself in the the current form that you see it uh and uh another item is I believe a letter that was I call the legal opinion that was initiated last year I think it was addressed to to Brendan when Brendan was the president of the board that came
043from Honeywell talking about a variety of different issues related to the the proposed policy and I know that document encapsulates a lot of other items but I'm just focused our attention tonight on the the specific policy itself and then um I believe I I provided the board the actual policy 2410 which is the reason why we're here this evening is because we've had it a uh um a request by a board member that this policy receive board uh um consideration now that said that's why we're here this evening for for that policy to receive uh board consideration I I would like to uh um lay out my way forward as it pertains to how this discussion or issue will proceed um as everyone knows all policies have a first reading um sometimes those first readings
044when they're actually old readings are waved because of the the magnitude of the of the the changes are more conforming and not uh contextual or meaningful um I don't think we've had a situation where we've had policies that have not received a first reading that said all the policies that have received the first reading were motioned and seconded by the board in order to have that discussion assuming that we can get to a second and have that discussion as it pertains to this proposal I ask that we have a discussion that would be very uh um how shall I say uh uh respectful of opposing views I know we have different views we have nine board members so that we probably have 10 opposing views on a number of things however I ask that everyone
045be respectful if we have that discussion and respectful of everyone's time we don't need to be engaged in a lengthy conversation about this from my perspective the vote which is the third piece is pretty cut and dry the resolution calls for us to accept the policy as written as a first reading my interpretation and understanding is that a yes indicates that the board would accept that first reading knowing that then the next step is for that policy to be presented at our next meeting with a resolution to adop adopt okay that said a no vote would indicate that the board rejects the first reading and that the issue will no longer be considered and when I say no longer I don't want to say forever because Never Say Never however that term would be considered
046indefinitely until such time that the full compliment of the board I.E the majority would feel comfortable moving forward with the proposal which would then start the process again which would then send it back to the policy committee and have it do their work and then again come to the full board so that that that is kind of how I I see this or prefer this to to play out this evening I don't really want to spend a lot of time on it um I do believe that respect is a very important aspect of collaboration and if somebody sees something I encourage them all to to say something and in this case we have a board member who has seen something and they have said something so I I believe that's meritorious of our consideration and
047so let's consider it and then move forward does that seem like a a decent way to proceed and I'm looking around and uh and I'm ask Jim because Jim and I have have kind of talked about this at length do you have anything that you'd like to nope add well great so that then brings me to the the item in question which is the first reading of a proposed uh policy uh numbered 0102 um could I have a motion is there a motion bass has motion uh is there a second second Christian second okay um discussion bass please first thank you John for uh putting this on the agenda and uh pursu to one of our policy that exists and you explained it uh very clearly and uh I can maybe reiterate quickly for our
048community uh we have a process here when you know some when you come up with a new policy the adoption of that policy is that uh the policy committee discuss it deliberates and uh makes a decision uh to go for it to go against it now whoever is proposing that policy doesn't have to abide by uh what the conclusion uh that came out from the policy committee is uh and this exactly what happened the B policy committee voted uh 3 to1 against the policy I proposed and uh pursuant to the policy we have that's why I'm here tonight talking about it to the public because uh with all due respect to the policy committee policy committee is made of people who can think this way or that way uh but that excludes the rest of
049the board member who are not part of the policy committee and the process allows them to De deliberate as well and provide their opinions as well so that's why we're here tonight and I'm going to be as brief as possible uh this policy that I like to call uh post policy uh social and political activism right so and and whenever you want to propose a policy you can't propose a policy similar to something that exist in the policy book right uh it has to be something new I mean you go through the policies you see that well there is some items that are not discussed and these are uh important to discuss uh and and uh there was an example where kind of something happened because there was no policy to address it now that
050incident was resolved uh I don't want to go through the details but again I think having a policy that have covered that whatever happened that individual would never uh try to do or say something that you know was said or done so uh we H this is kind of I'm trying to improve and I think all of us here are on the table we try to improve uh uh uh existing processes uh you know we you know as much as possible so whenever you see room for improvement you get to do that and this is kind of where mentally where I'm coming from so if you allow me here I don't want to bore every anybody but uh believe me I believe uh I I strongly believe that I have to read the policy itself
051and allowing again the community who uh didn't have a chance to hear about it or to read uh uh about it uh to see what we're talking about here just for sentences for four actually five lines so uh what I'm saying is the proposed policy should say in helping to avoid divisiveness bullying and OST ostra ISM ostracism the Board of Education prohibits social and political activism in all the CCSD five schools this covers any sort of political and social activism inside the classroom this is important inside the classrooms not in the hallways inside the classrooms carried out by teachers and push in counselors during the school year regardless of the subject thought to include the distribution of any social and political literature by any means the board strives to keep social and political causes outside
052the CCSD five schools boundaries right students and teachers have the freedom to engage in social and political activism as private US citizens outside CCSD properties and I read that uh uh paragraph to uh Point specifically that we are not talking about students here right preventing students from doing any sort of activism we're talking about staff right and I said here teachers and pushing counselors right so I'm excluding very explicitly so the student from this process now with all due respect to the legal council the legal council letter and John our board president did attach the legal opinion in his email uh today John did you is it available to the public I think in uh so maybe Linda can put it so so B just just in general legal legal opinions are confidential and privileged
053and so we did we we're not going to cross that that that that line okay so right again with all due respect to the legal council the letter that was received in June 2003 that's uh like almost a year ago uh and I can say that I started talking about the policy the beginning of last school year so towards the end of the last school year we received the legal opinion I mean I'm just saying some facts here I went through the letter and I read it I read it said something's missing here something's wrong I read it second time third time with all due respect to the legal council they must a very important point because they kept talking about student student student First Amendment of the student you can do that and I
054said I'm not talking about students I'm talking about teachers counselors going to the classroom not teaching because we do have a policy actually and Mr Dade I mean just pointed that out in previous conversations we do teach controversial topics controversial issues there's there's a topic about that and uh actually the again the chair of the policy committee this year uh Jim gave an example during one of the policy committee meetings very good example I I love that example he remembered when he was in the classroom in high school how a teacher teaching jym a controver controversial topic how he took a neutral position let the students debate and he said by the end of that class you would never know what side that teacher was on EX that was a perfect example that's exactly what
055I'm talking about however I'm not talking about teaching I'm talking about out of the blue a teacher goes to the classroom and says something about whatever something controversial Biden is so and so Trump is so and so abortion is so and so abortion is so and so has nothing to do with the topic that start that during that day the cops are so so the veterans are so and so that's what I'm talking about when there's a policy in the books that says you can do that Madam sir you can do that okay so that's what we're talking about so first of all the legal council talked went on and on about talking about students you can't infringe on the students First Amendment hey I'm not talking about students hey bass I and I and
056I don't mean to cut you off I I just want to say let's not focus on the legal opinion because they're providers of advice I'll stop it there thank you thanks yeah I'll stop um the the the issue just to to just to clarify almost done and and you I just want to just clarify something that the committee looked at the legal opinion the legal opinion talked about a variety of of issues directly focused on the wording of the policy and it was the policy committee's position and Jim you can you know correct me on this that the policy had some flaws to it as to its unforce ability it's lack of specificity and that as a result it was problematic from the start in how it was framed that was the committee's majority position
057on it and I don't want to give anyone the impression that the legal opinion is what's driving ding anyone's action here on the board or in the district as fiduciaries the nine of us are responsible for the decisions that we take and the policies that we employ and hold the standard or the admin and others staff responsible for adhering to that that that's on us okay so I just wanted to make that important distinction that it's the committee's position that it was not enforceable and it lacks specificity and it had some other issues that I'd love to phone a friend right now on but um I'm sure Jim maybe once you're done bass he could elaborate okay but I just wanted to interject and so if you could just I'm going up up thank you
058yeah thanks thank thanks John uh so I talked about the students uh definitely explicit excluding the student I'm not talking about the students uh I'm just talking about teachers counselors uh CCSD staff going to the classroom and just volunteering their opinions there in the classroom on these uh divisive uh topics to be clear new students clubs those are excluded I mean if you read the policy you can tell that students are free to do whatever they they want of course they have code of conduct they have to abide by uh but I'm not talking about preventing say starting a new student Club about a subject that is uh uh controversial or divisive I'm not talking about students you know I'm talking about stuff I me repeating myself and to wrap it up uh uh uh
059the policy covers the classrooms only uh so so uh uh and again uh because I'm talking about the classroom uh now the first thing that comes to mind is like teaching and I was faced with that opinion again and again that hey B we do have a policy that addresses teaching controversial issues and I kept saying I'm not talking about teaching I'm talking about let's say a a math class and uh the teacher just fell that morning to talk about abortions for instance right so that's kind of I'm not I'm not talking about teaching right so I'm not talking about teaching the last thing is again uh I I I heard and maybe kind of you explained it again very nicely John uh uh uh Define activism what do you mean by activism okay so
060do you want to kind of maybe do some Ward smthing do you want to talk more about it that's left definitely to the committee uh I heard something about like legal uh issues and litigation we get sued why do you want to sue us right I mean I mean can can if I'm a staff member can't I control myself giving those two three classes I don't know how many classes I have per day but do I really have to go inside the classroom if I'm a teacher and just vent about social issues the night before that took place somewhere some you know uh in the United States I don't have to do that I'm paid to give that math lesson I'm paid to give that social studies Le lesson whatever is so so I believe
061I can control myself within the School boundaries not to vent about things not to try to impress the students with my smart ideas about one issue or another and as I said again here you know I mean political activism as a private citizen outside CCSD property feel free to do whatever you want block the traffic you know hold size placet whatever you know if you want to go start try somewhere I'm not going to stop you but I'm talking about the classroom right so again going back to wrap it up from the beginning what I said our policy book doesn't cover what I talked about tonight that's why the proposed policy thank you hey thank you bass um okay so so that's the uh opening um Salvo thank you for clarifying your position and and
062walking us through how you got there that's that's very helpful for for us I think as a board as we weigh our this this topic Jim uh could you enrich some of the things that uh the committee would consider thank you John I'll be very brief uh make a few quick points number one uh the policy as written is over Brad so as to be unenforceable uh there are terms such as activism and um forgive me I forget the other term that's in there that are not uh in social causes that are not defined in the policy so therefore it's an enforceable policy right there um so a policy that is unenforceable is uh not a good policy uh it has um the language is unclear about whether or not it applies just to uh
063staff members or students one uh sentence uh applies just to staff members explicitly the sentence before that um is open to interpretation whether that applies to staff or students uh the legal opinion from Honeywell has two sections one applying a First Amendment analysis uh both to uh staff members and then as well as to students so it's two different first uh Amendment analyses um either way we have potential issues uh with the policy on a First Amendment basis um so that's point two uh Point number three um and bass you uh mentioned several times there that you're talking about teaching controversial issues in the classroom and you don't want the math teacher uh talking about sensitive issues um the the policy committee felt that this policy uh did not Merit further reworking to be introduced
064as a policy because that is covered explicitly in board policy 4810 teaching about contro controversial issues excuse me easy for me to say teaching about controversial issues Point number one teaching about controversial issues and I quote in the classroom matters of a controversial nature shall be handled as they arise in the normal course of instruction and not introduced for their own sake such issues shall be neither sought nor avoided I think that clearly covers the case of a math teacher trying tot introduce abortion so for those three points the policy committee felt that this policy did not Merit uh further discussion and we did not recommend it for the full board for approval thank you hey that's great Jim thank you and let me let me also kind of embellish the the the ground here
065as we talk about this maybe more briefly going forward here but uh um I looked at the policy uh manual pretty thoroughly and I see Larry burer my my friend and former colleague who uh spent a couple of days working through the policy manual trying to bring it back to the or bring it up to the 21st century as I recall um and I found a policy that I think not only uh um has the the spirit to what some of the items that that uh bass has highlighted um but also addresses it by the letter and and and as much as the policy committee looked at uh uh the controversial topic uh policy which I think is a is a pertinent one that actually did uh received some modification if I'm not that's right
066right Jim you you correct we voted about that not me not last meeting but two meetings ago we added to the teaching about controversial issues in response to B's request and we felt that that modification of that policy handled us as a committee thank you right so there's a couple ways that one could send skin the cat on this and and and so the that was enriched or improved I guess if if you don't like the term enriched but the policy that I'm talking about that also kind of helps frame this issue of of uh of of uh inappropriate political speech in the in the district uh um and I'm not against politics I'm I'm I'm just for it in the proper uh um environment and I'm more concerned about our kids being skilled in
067critical thinking um and how that is accomplished I I will leave it to the professionals then I am um about political uh um positions being spoken to our students as truth because the policy that I'm citing is called advertising in the schools and its number uh is 1511 and it starts off with the statement that I think encapsulates exactly what bass's concern is and it says school facility staff and school children shall not be employed in any manner for advertising or otherwise promoting any commercial political or non-school agency individual or organization in the school canvasing soliciting selling Etc is not permitted on school premises and I believe that simple statement that simple standard addresses the very concern That Bass has and I think the majority of the board probably share that there's a a place
068for those types of discussions not about what is true and false but in terms of how you process that to arrive at your own position that's the skill that we need to impart on our kids this says hey we're not for allowing political and other types of advertising or canvasing to occur in the school and so I just throw that out there um I don't want to belabor this point I'd really like to get to a vote but I want to give everyone the opportunity to to to be part of this conversation so Christian your hand was next recognized and then Brendan and then um B let me come back to you after everyone's had a chance cuz uh I'm sure um I want to be fair all right so first Christian thank you um
069so you asked us is kind of key to the issue about readiness of this policy rather than the substance of the policy and so I'm going to address that in four different dimensions because I don't think this has been explained and I think it's important to understand why the policy is not ready the first one is that there's a there's BAS a preamble to this policy which says in order to deal with divisiveness ostracism and bullying and that is the Tinker standard because they cly out very clearly what would Empower a school district to act on behalf of the welfare of the things to restrict First Amendment rights and the Tinker decision which is required by our high school students to take for the US regions is pretty canonical here and it says un undifferentiated
070fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression and while bass has talked about the second thing is that this also extends that the when this extended to the academic freedom of teachers which was not in the Tinker decision because I dealt with students which is why I think you I think some confusion and that's what came out from the uh the legal opinion is that the the James versus the Board of Education of Addison which was a New York school district and the second district court of appeals ruled that school boards those charged with overseeing the day-to-day interchange between teacher and student might exercise the degree of restraint necessary to protect First Amendment rights and basically said that we don't you basically have to adopt a policy
071that is basically unless you can identify a specific material pedagogical reason you cannot in a sense just decide to restrict the rights that people have on the First Amendment whether assembly religion or or speech including uh what you I think would describe as activism third um we are not prepared as a school district to actually dictate the difference between what is activism and what's curriculum because the only body that can establish that is a school board not an administrator not let uh and and we do not have a curriculum committee I look back we have not made any really rulings on curriculum going back six or seven years and so for us to say that something is not in the curriculum uh would be almost impossible for us to to basically say because we have
072not outlined the curriculum which goes to our own legal firm who was made this argument on behalf of a school district just 18 months ago and the Honeywell firm was the last case to do this and it made very clear what it would be for a school district to actually control to control the academic freedoms of teachers and they said basically a scope and sequence is not sufficient and they had a case where a teacher put a lesson about antiva from a doctor in a law enforcement CTE class and the commissioner of Education which is still the current commissioner um ruled pretty much completely against the Honeywell law firm's argument on this to say basically that that is not sufficient nor that allow a school district to restrict even that type of lesson and incited
073the Malin decis decision from the late 1990s that basically had a teacher who wrote an a letter to the editor and then included in the curricular materials was still within the discretion of the teacher and so the point about it is that we would lose this case because the First Amendment right even our decisions to guide the welfare of to protect the welfare of students from let's say indoctrination would not even meet that standard and as I said this was our own Law Firm that argued this case hey Christian just just on the on that just to be clear you said this case that's a hypothetical situation we don't have a case have a prop case that was argued commissioner decision 1821 I'm talking about just the proposed policy and and and I don't want
074to get into hypotheticals or other um issues at other districts um but the point is this is the commissioner's decision which does govern us as a school district and it's very clear what they established as a standard for what you could do to limit let's say the academic freedom of a teacher to make a decision in a classroom and we and the examples you described here would not uh have that standard and what they cited in malver is basically that um that you know basically that we have to uh keep to the strictest standard possible we cannot in sense dictate it because our employees have constitutional rights and we do not they don't forfeit those rights when they become employees and even let's say the ruling on academic freedom about what happens in a classroom
075have been ruled on many many many times not just for students but also for teachers and the point is that we would not win this case I also don't think we would Prevail and that would mean this a policy that would be in contempt and a contempt policy that's not enforceable is not a policy it invites contempt for the organization that passes that policy thank you Christian okay um Brandon so um just want to underscore uh everything Jim said before I thought that was a great summation of what the uh policy committee did on this um the only thing I I could add to it is just a wrinkle to that the question of the vague language I think that it is UN enforc ible I agree and um this will be familiar to to
076those in the policy committee uh this this line of reasoning I I worry about the chilling effect it could also have on staff because if you if you don't know where the line is then you're terrified that your next step can cross it right so it's sort of like you you turn the lights out in a room and you know there's something dangerous in the room but you don't know where it is so you just freeze right that's the that's the I think very probable danger of having just an un a a unfl fleshed unidentified um terms such as social activism you know anybody everybody's definition of that will be different so for all of the reasons listed before I I I think that th those are Germain and individually um you know the fact
077that we have all the other policies that I think achieve this goal that you have uh but also for the the the hypothetical scenario and chilling impact they could have on teachers where because they are afraid of Crossing this line uh they we end up stifling conversations that we would otherwise celebrate um we don't want classrooms where uh I think we teachers are more concerned with keeping their job than empowering students and uh having inspiring conversation so I think we should uh we should stick with what we've got here I do want to say and this this is another point that was echoed in the policy committee I think that you know for your own sake pass it's not that we don't I think we know where you're coming from it was always about how
078does your intent translate onto the page and that was always the really the the rubber meets the road kind of moment right it's not that everyone was saying we fundamentally disagree with you it was the way that this is written would open up a can of worms much bigger than the problem we're trying to solve coupled with the fact that we do believe honestly and and firmly that the problem is already addressed in these other ways anyone else uh oh Le no I want to get everyone else opportunity before we go back to Bass just if we could thanks I'm gonna bump on something you said John and reiterate it that we don't have any litigation currently underway rela to any relative anything that's been discussed tonight policy any issue with a policy we're under
079no litigation so it got said that um the case we would not win this case there is no case out there to win or even to deliberate with the exception of what we're talking about here on a policy so just to again you know exclamation point that and Brandon what you said at the end is what I was going to open with is I think I know personally um I agree with where you're coming from bass 100% I concept is is is is is meant and it's all it's all right I use Brandon s where the rubber meets the road is where it's at I do also believe that it's covered in other policies um but again not to beor everybody says the same thing I will while while no I will just Resort back
080to our our our attorney and his advice I mean the guy makes a career out of making this decisions and has a firm based on you know the dec decisions he's making I don't I'd like to think that he's not in business to make poor decisions or advise you know make you know give ill advice and um I'm going to yield yield in that direction it's thanks L Christine yeah please I'm going to try to be very quick but I do want to reiterate bass I think um it's important to know that those examples you're giving I think any one of us would say those are extreme right and the work I do every day it's a lot of decision- making in the gray related to person's behavior and what we try to always ask
081ourselves is what's the reasonable person standard here like what would a reasonable person think is over the line and then we have the conversation and we talk through it and I think that in the policy committee the other thing that we found was something that was brought up in the past that was a concern it was handled right away so I think that our Administration uses that lens if they they might not call it that and I also think that we have processes in place that if something something got past that lens and somebody in the community was concerned or or upset they would go through the the channels to communicate that so it could be addressed so I think in the in the effort of airing on the side of allowing some conversations to
082happen and not having to micromanage the definition of what is vigorous or what is social activism I I I want you to walk away feeling like your your cause is heard and covered and I think that's what we all think um we don't want to go to the extreme where we're stifling other potential growth and and critical thinking thanks Christine Richard yeah thank you thank you real quick I don't want to go on but just to sum up what everybody said I agree with what's what everyone said so far and I don't disagree with bass and his stance on it but I think what it comes down to is just how enforceable is this policy in front of us and I I just don't see it and we also have to take into account just
083trusting our staff and how this would affect the climate right do we want our staff to be scared of bringing certain things up or not knowing what they can and cannot bring up so I just think it's it's not specific enough um I think the other two policies that were brought up covers this to an extent and yeah that's don't want to repeat what everybody else said but that's my stance hey thank you Richard um so bass I don't know I don't want to turn this into a I want a debate but if you if if if if you want to just quickly um yeah I I just thanks I I just want to tell everybody here again on the record what I feel uh and I don't expect back and forth so uh from
084what I gathered tonight and all along actually I should say because we met in the policy committee not only this year but the previous year U as I said I brought this up uh at the beginning of the last school year so we are close to two years talking about this now today tonight um what I gathered is this uh I think there's a consensus that uh uh uh the policy as written is not clear enough and because it's not clear enough it's not enforceable I mean correct me if I wrong that that's that's kind of what I'm hearing from everybody and and I'm going to tell you right now that I agree with that okay so maybe you think that I'm backtracking but I'm a reasonable person uh I heard that that uh that
085uh it is not clear enough there's room to improve the language uh and why are we going to improve the language to the answer is to make it enforcable because everybody felt like how are we going to enforce that so that said I want to tell you again maybe for the last time that uh uh the two other existing policy one talking about teaching controversial issues uh does not apply uh because I'm not talking about teaching and I give an example today math teacher comes to the classroom and start uh uh talking about abortion uh either side of the spectrum right uh his job is to go talk about math uh so teaching about controversial issues does a policy does not apply the other policy that does not apply John is what you mentioned uh
0861511 I think the number is because it's talking about employing students uh giving them some some literature to distribute giving them some signup sheets we're not talking about that so again because the existing policies do not cover what we're talking about and I think everybody has an appreciation and I heard it kind of tonight that everybody is telling me B we know exactly where you're coming from we know your intent we appreciate your intents and and I I I believe what I'm coming from is uh uh I don't see the existing policies cover what I'm talking about again what I'm saying is and everybody was kind of saying the same thing is that the language is not uh clear enough so I'm ready to go back to the drawing board clarify the language but I
087believe this policy so is so so so bass I I I appreciate that that that offer I don't I don't believe that is our our way forward on this right now um I got a hand over here so I think Megan has a comment to make please be brief just want to make a really quick clarifying point sometimes in discussion when we use examples it gets confused as fact I do need to clarify for our faculty and staff there's never been a conversation in a mathroom about abortion cuz I see I see eyes bugging out around me and I know my phone is blowing up we just need to understand that when we're talking in examples and I I appreciate what you're saying there bass in terms of that example hypothetically I understand I'm just
088making a clarifying point that that is not an actual situation that's happened here that's a very thank you for that Megan um right and so again back to to what lwis and I were saying about cases there is no case a lot of hypothetical situations have been discussed however the the real issue for us this evening is here is a proposed policy it did not make it through the committee basses afforded the opportunity to bring it to us for further consideration we have uh uh I think done a good job of considering it um I think there are some valid reasons on why this policy uh uh is not uh um ready or or not say it's ready that this policy is not required at this stage for we have other policies that kind of
089do govern this and and I I I respect your opinion bass but my interpr ation of those policies are a little different than yours okay but that notwithstanding the issue for us this evening is whether we accept this first reading of this policy or we reject it and based on where we are right now in terms of the discussion and looking at everyone having the opportunity to talk I would like to call a vote so all in favor of of accepting the first reading of this policy 0102 uh say I all opposed say nay n any abstentions okay I'm sorry we did not uh uh accept the the first reading of this policy thanks wrong finger at work there I'm sorry about that what I was uh about to say is that uh based on
090that no vote that uh uh this issue has been defeated indefinately and that if the board were to reconsider it I suggest it go through the standard process where it goes through the policy committee and get vetted uh and then if it it to the board then so be it I I I think I've heard a lot of people in agreement with bass's principle and the and the principle is that advocating for a specific political view within the district is not appropriate that is a lot different than saying we can not talk about controversial issues because absent talking about controversial issues we will never create the skill set in our students to thrive in the uh uh the mean Cru world that's outside the the the four corners of uh our district again with all
091due respect you're missing the point again I mean you're starting gr then you say I'm not talking about whatever you said I'm not talking about that it's clear thank you bass thank you bass okay so the motion was uh uh defeated let us then move to uh our second round of public comments is there anyone in the audience still that would like to come forward and share their thoughts no okay well then great uh let's go to closing comments uh from the board and I will start with Christine please so um congrats to the girls track team first place I love to see that um yeah it's amazing um and I just want to um you know hope everyone comes out and votes tomorrow you know I used to commute to the city um and
092I remember those days coming home trudging like oh I don't want to I don't I just want to go home just take the F minute dete tour come in hit the you know the vote button and you it'll be less than five minutes um and you know really all the best to all the candidates um you know it's it's great to see people who who want to give back um and just for the record I'm at a college open house tomorrow but I did do my absentee valet so if you don't see me it's not because I don't care I just have another thing going on so best of luck to everyone thanks Christine hey Lewis very good thank you um so uh I want to congratulate the students that um initiated and and and
093navigated uh dragon Day on on Saturday fantastic event like it was super impressive to see what you know those kids put together and and organized and and and the the the workaround for the dunk booth and you know you can't put any water anymore got to splash him now and so on and kudos to certain members of the audience that participated congratulations um get a shot make sure you're clean um there was an issue no no no no uh so no it was great it was great for the students uh bunch of kids out there the relays so congratulations to to to to all those that participated um best of luck to all our students this year for their for their finals and such and and exams coming up study up and get it get
094her done and like Christine said the votes Tomorrow come out for the budget please please it's important everyone come out and voice their opinion through the ballot thank you thank you Lewis Brendan yeah I'll keep it short uh congratulations to uh everybody involved in Dragon day uh year two and a great tradition continues and I will just say vote tomorrow you can vote at 6:00 a.m. you can vote at 6:30 you can vote at 7: a.m. it's not Chicago you can only vote once well you can vote this is an or between all of these uh but seriously polls are open till 900 p.m. uh Christine kind of alluded to it you know you might get home from work and you figure ah you know what's it matter we've literally had years where two votes
095have made a difference and that was two votes in the well in the no direction I can't legally say what's right or wrong a state Ed doesn't like that um but your your vote really does count it doesn't get more local than your local school budget vote and School Board election um so it has the benefit of uh your your vote carries the most impact so absolutely come out vote uh it's all day 6 a.m. 9:00 p.m. if you're looking for any last minute uh information you can go on to our website this uh Cornwall schools.com you'll find the the tabs for uh budget information we have everything up there videos that explain the budget uh the presentation that we gave last week um a bunch of documentation you can go through all of our
096board meetings if that wasn't enough and still get uh as much information as you can possibly handle uh it really does count so please I cannot say it uh emphatically enough and with that uh good luck to all the candidates tomorrow and uh probably see all of your uh smiling faces minus Christine tomorrow as uh the polls close thanks Brandon pass hey Carl I just want to say good luck to all those running tomorrow and uh get out and vote thank you Christian um two things first of all since last time we met we had the steam Expo and I there were many great projects and presentations uh but I just want to point uh call out the uh science research students of the high school um Who provided posters on eoin and K9 therapies
097The genome aspects of Aging um experimental AI uh Perlo remediation and I believe one also on the uh migration of humpback Wells but I might be incorrect about that but I also want to acknowledge their teacher uh Shan Mayer Sean Meyer who I think did a great job and prepared them and they they answered some very uh tough questions I just want to acknowledge that and secondly I just want to uh uh in the past month a former Cornwall teacher Joan winell uh who I believe taught at the high school for 20 years passed away and I think it's important uh you know that we remember those who have contributed and helped build this District yeah thank you for that Christian was not aware uh Richard yeah I too will keep it brief I first
098want to thank Kate and Nick for being here um I want to wish everyone all our students and staff luck in the last month of school um you got to finish strong you know don't quit now we got to keep F pushing till the end um and we're very proud of our students I know me and the entire board is I too went to the Science Expo it was phenomenal I was so impressed great job to all involved yeah and lastly please get out and vote tomorrow I mean they say National politics is the most popular thing to go out and vote for president governor but local elections make the most impact to people's lives so I just think take five minutes to go out and vote good luck to all the candidates and yeah
099hope to see at the poll hey thanks Richard hey Jim we're not supposed to have inner um party debate here in the closing comments but I want to say that Christian is wrong clearly the best presentation of the Science Expo was a third grader from Co who made a Google Slides document about Mexico clearly Head and Shoulders Above the Rest of the crowd um Jim if I may I will admit my error unbiased opinion had video and everything um get out and vote tomorrow 6:00 to 9: 6:00 a.m to 9:00 P p.m at the middle school thank you have a great night thanks Jim so let me close real quick um Dragon Day great opportunity to see our kids um growing in roles of responsibility and flaunting their skill set um and their people skills
100so that is fantastic um vote tomorrow you'll have another opportunity to see our Kids In Action if you do um I'm looking at uh John Hines who under his tutelage uh has put together exit polling that will be run by our uh students from the high school um everyone will have an opportunity to provide their feedback on on the vote and we will get a briefing of those results at our next board meeting so so please vote and if you do go to vote please participate in that that exit polling uh uh survey that's being run by our our students um the last thing I I I want to talk about real briefly on the this uh day um May 20th uh we're in between Armed Forces Day which was on the 14th uh and
101Memorial Day which is coming up on the 31st I know a lot of people probably took issue with our process tonight it's somewhat uh pedantic in having to to to be formal and to address the issue um in a dictatorship it would be decided in a second however democracy can be ugly at times and it can be take the time um and that's what I think we displayed and modeled for everybody this evening that chooses to watch which is democracy in process and I thank you all for participating in that process and I wish you all a safe Memorial Day weekend I entertain a motion uh to close the meeting so move the second all in favor I all right meeting closed thank you so much