Board of Education Public Meeting | Live Stream | June 4th, 2026

001Evening. My name is Shrida Chhatur and I'm president of the City School District of Albany Board of Education. On behalf of the board, I welcome you to our meeting today. We have our student board member Tiana Brown. We have uh member Elmenyabi, member Crerachche, vice president Tabitha Wilson, member Savage and member man with us. And we also have the superin various members of the cabinet joining us. Uh, this meeting is being livereamed and the instructions to view this meeting as well as a link to the agenda, including all the documents we will discuss are available at albonychools.org/bee. This is a good time for me to note that if you're here tonight to speak in public comment, you should sign up with our board, Miss Tim Simmons, here to my right. And with that introduction, we

002invite those of you who choose to join us as we stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. In addition to the pledge of allegiance, we always focus our meaning by restating the mission of the city school district of Albany, which is to work in partnership with a diverse community to engage every learner in a robust educational program designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for success. So, you want to introduce M? >> Yep. We're going to begin our our uh meeting a little out of order. We have a a special recognition tonight. We'd like to invite up Mr. Frell on behalf of the New York State School Boards Association

003and some of his friends, some familiar faces here to the school district. We'd like to bring up Candy and Tanetti, our high school operations principal, Donna Cunningham and Teresa Teresa Gillio, and we'll turn the floor over to um we'll turn the floor over to them so they can share a little bit about uh tonight's excitement. >> Yeah. >> The little person. >> Yep. >> Push the little person. >> You Well, okay. Thank you very much, everybody. Um Well, good evening. I, as I was said, I am John Ferrell. I'm not only a uh member of the NISBA awards and recognition committee, um, but I'm also uh a board member with South Quinn Falls School Board. So, I have some familiarity, though you have it far uh different than what we do down south or north.

004>> Get get my direction correct. So with that said, on behalf of uh NISBA president Christine Schnars and Executive Director Bob Schneider, thank you for having us um present today. Um a brief overview. A couple of years ago, NISBA wanted to create a program to highlight the positive programming that was bringing change to the students, communities, and districts of New York. So they created Champions of Change program to do just that. The recognition is unsolicited. Member relations combs through Eclipse for articles highlighting programs. In addition, member relations visits upwards of 300 school districts each to discuss their challenges and successes. All programs are brought to a committee that chooses the program that are to be recognized through a beautiful recognition banner. You'll see that in a moment. Um, well, this committee, which I happen to

005be a member, that's why they asked me to come out here, uh, was notified of a wonderful creative program at your district that deserves recognition. And just to highlight some of the letter that was sent, every once in a while, it is nice to get a pat on the back, especially when the recognition is unexpected. The New York State School Board's Association initiated a recognition program, Champions of Change, to do just that. It has come to our attention that there is a creative program in your school district that deserves recognition, Falcon Market. And we would like to pay tribute to those who make it possible. We understand there are many incredible meritorious programs and projects throughout the state and MINISBA is celebrating yours. A colorful banner has been created for you to hang in recognition

006of this program and we ask that the banner be displayed in an appropriate place of honor for all to see. So, I'm happy to present this banner which reads, "Champions of Change, Albany City School District Board of Education, Falcon Market." You should be very proud. Thank you very much. Yeah. Before we grab a picture, Donna or um Teresa or Candy, do you want to make a comment? We would like to say thank you for this honor. Um it's nice to know that our hard work does not go unnoticed. Um and it just makes it that much um better to be there helping everybody out and to get this recognition. Um it started out as something small and it has become something huge and we are happy and proud to be a part of that. Thank

007you. >> Thank you. It's always good when um you know efforts in your district are recognized by the state board serving as a model for other people. So moving on let's next thing on our agenda is the student board member report. Hello. First up, we have the civic action project and the seal of civic readiness. Over the last few weeks, many of our AP government students have been working on our civ civic action projects, which are a key part of earning the seal of civic readiness. These projects give students the chance to take real civic action on an issue that they care deeply about. Whether that means creating a media campaign, raising awareness in the community, or reaching out to a local official who has influence over that topic, the Civic Action Project is designed

008to help students move forward from learning about government to actually participating in it. Completing the project brings students one step closer to earning the seal of civic readiness, a distinction that recognizes students for their civic knowledge, their engagement, and their ability to contribute meaningfully to their society. The seal is valuable not only because it appears on the student's diploma, but also because it demonstrates readiness to participate in civic life, sometimes colleges, employers, and communities increasingly look for and student government's last meeting. I would also like to share that student government held its final meeting of the school year last Thursday. It is bittersweet to see the year come to an end, especially after so many successful events and initiatives. It has been an honor to be a part of this organization and I'm confident that

009is in good hands moving forward. I wish student government nothing but success in the years to come. And finally, end of year activities. I would also like to share that Albany High School has been busy with a number of endofear activities including core distributions and preparations for the upcoming upcoming senior meeting that will help prepare seniors for the upcoming graduation. Students and staff are also getting ready for Falcon Field Day, which gives our Falcons the opportunity to enjoy time outside, participate in a variety of activities, and celebrate the end of the school year together. Additionally, prom is this Saturday, and there's a great deal of excitement throughout the building as students look forward to this memorable event. >> Thank you. >> Super Hawk Rider, do you have a report for us? I do. And we're

010going to begin with our friends from New Scotland Elementary School who I also understand at some point in their presentation we have a special treat. Hit the person. There we go. >> Good evening. I am Leslie Buff, the building principal at New Scotland Elementary School, and joining me this evening is our assistant principal, Miss Rose. I'd like to thank the board of education and the superintendent giving us this opportunity to showcase what makes New Scotland Elementary School so special for our students, staff, and families. Oh, what did I do? Um the district's vision focuses on excellence with caring relationships and creating um or providing equitable opportunities for all of our students and New Scotland focuses or our vision and goals mirror that as well. Am I clicking or It's not moving when I'm clicking though.

011I'm sorry. Oh, there we go. Thank you. Um, sorry. So, you will notice that our goals mirror the district goals with an emphasis on equity and providing our students those equitable experiences. Each year, New Scotland identifies a schoolwide theme and this year our theme was bring your agame with an emphasis on teamwork. We know that students learn best from teachers that they have relationships with and adults operate in the same way. So we began we spent the beginning portion of the school year really building our team and then that allows us to have those difficult conversations that we need to have around building level data. It allows teachers to feel comfortable working with our building level coaches and engaging in our professional development. And we started with a really fun activity this year with asking

012each of our grade level teams to make a team banner. Um so you can see our team banner. Um Miss Rose and myself, our team lead, my techsavvy assistant principal. Um love her dearly and made us look about 10 years younger. So I'm very appreciative of that. Um but all joking aside, this really laid the foundation for the work that we did in the building this school year. And we know that a school leadership is not just the building level principal and the assistant principal. I have a dedicated and collaborative building leadership team that works to support students and staff success. And then we have our student leadership team that works closely with Miss Rose. We have 12 students on our student leadership team this year that represent the diversity of our building and their

013central mission or goal is really to increase student voice and increase student ownership within the building and understand that they have the potential to to change our school culture and community. New Scotland Elementary School is the largest elementary school in the district. We have four 504 students and a very diverse student population. We are fortunate that our student population remains fairly consistent. We do not have a high level rate of transiency like some of the elementary schools. Um so we do have a a consistent student body and this year we did add one self-contained special education classroom. So we now have five 1213 to1 classrooms. And this slide shows our three-year trend with attendance. You can see that we remain fairly consistent, hovering around 94% average daily attendance. We did have a slight increase in

014chronic absenteeism this year. Um, and as we work to uncover those barriers, the barriers are probably very similar to what my colleagues have spoke about in their presentations this year. We have a number of students that travel to their home country. and when they travel to their home country, they are gone for an extended period of time. So, they reach that 20-day mark and then are labeled chronically absent. But what I can tell you is when they are here, they are here. They do come to school. Um, and actually this week, I think a couple days we had 96% daily attendance. Um, so we are doing quite well with that. And I am excited to share that New Scotland Elementary School now has a homeschool coordinator. Um, so want to give a shout out to

015Miss Ruiz. um she could not be with us this evening. Um she is in week two of um working at New Scotland Elementary School, but I can tell you that she has hit the ground running. She is already meeting with our families and she has a laser focus on attendance. So I'm hoping that our attendance will attendance will continue to improve. New Scotland Elementary School has a lot of things I would like to highlight. Um but I would really like to highlight our equity work. I have spoken about this at our last couple of board meetings. Um, but I just wanted to show you that our work layers upon itself. We started several years ago focusing on our own personal bias. We um spent some time diving deeper into child development reading the book yard

016sticks. We focused on our building level data specifically targeting a few students and trying to push their academic growth. We spent some time switching or shifting our mindset from the what can I do and you know talking about all the outside impacts and really reflecting on the what can I do taking ownership and accountability for our students and their test scores. And this year we spent some time I don't want to say moving away from relationships because those relationships matter but pushing our our teachers to look at their instruction. And we did this through professional development, showcasing teachers that we thought through our classroom visits are demonstrating high teacher practice. And um the reason for that is we know that we wanted all of our students to have a consistent academic experience and our teachers

017don't often have opportunities to get in each other's rooms. So we took our professional development time to really share what some of our stu some of our teachers are doing in their classrooms. And I truly believe that our equity work has led to some of our overall academic success. On this slide, it's showing a comparison of our last two years for our New York State ELA and math scores. And as you can see, our ELA scores, we have shown some remarkable growth. And our math scores are also fairly strong. Um, a 7% increase in math and a 10% increase in ELA in one school year is not marginal improvements. These are students trajectories that have changed and I want to highlight that in my next slide. This is a snippet of the New York State

018Weighted Performance Index. And although this does not show all of our subgroups, all of our subgroups did show great gains. Um, but I want to focus on our economically disadvantaged subgroup and our black subgroup. And if you look at this trend, um, for the previous three years, we had pretty consistent results. I would actually use the word stagnant. We weren't showing growth within these subgroups. Um and I am extremely proud to share that last year our economically disadvantaged subgroup um showed a 29.7 point increase and our black subgroup um was the subgroup with the highest increase of 39.8 almost 40 point increase in one academic school year. Um, and that is truly, I think, tied to the work that we have been doing around equity. And with that, we want to keep this momentum going.

019We know that there is still work to be done. We are continuing to stay the course um until we attain 80% proficiency for all of our students. So, we are not making many shifts. We're just going to continue to do the work that we've been doing, focusing on um diving deeper into our data, having those difficult conversations, holding ourselves accountable to the work, and continuing the equity work within the building. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Rose. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. So this part of the presentation is usually where we have either pictures or slides or some video um just showcasing some children in our school doing wonderful things. In the past we have brought students here from our student leadership team. I don't know if you remember,

020but last year we had a group of passionate students that came because they were um concerned about the amount of plastic that we used and then they turned that plastic into um uh accessories. I believe one was a purse that they brought in. Um kind of consistent with our theme this year and bringing your agame. I had a casual conversation with our band and orchestra teacher who's here today, Mr. Phelps about um how proud he is of our student musicians. And given the fact that we have two musicians in the cabinet over there, I thought, wouldn't it be neat? Uh so I asked Miss Buff if she kind of agreed with the idea of bringing our students here. So we have just a um small group of students um who were available to come tonight

021to um dazzle you with their talents. They are not only Huh. the music a game. >> They're they're bringing their music a game. Exactly. Um not only are they just wonderful students academically, they are contributing members to our school community, they've been on our student leadership team. Um they're just wonderful students. So, I hope you enjoy um what we get to enjoy every day when we're in school with them. And with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Phelps. I don't know where he is behind me. There he is. Mr. Phelps has been at New Scotland. He told me today since 2003. So he is really um invested in our school community and our and as I said our children are wonderful and I want to thank their parents publicly too for having wonderful

022children and bringing them here tonight. >> Which way you want us to face >> which way should they face the >> face the audience. Okay. >> First time Scott, are you going to introduce them or should I? >> You want to say something about the piece you're doing? >> Okay. I'll just We should take a photo. I have the unfortunate pleasure of following our musical group. We will uh provide a a brief update here as we enter our final month of the school year. A number of uh updates, but we'll begin with um an opportunity uh partnership, another uh partnership opportunity with the city of Albany. Early on uh in Dr. After a's tenure, um she asked for wide representation u from various agencies including the school district to um begin a conversation um around

023her vision for uh violence prevention and trying to identify best practices uh trying to identify different networks and and all of the different agencies that are that are working toward that goal. uh and she invited a few of our staff members um to spend two full days in Baltimore uh in a in a city that uh has overcome a significant number of hurdles uh around violence prevention and the interface between um law enforcement and school districts and and all of these uh various agencies in in both the city and county of Baltimore. Uh and coming back from that uh uh she formed a a very aggressive task force and a very um diligent timeline to uh as she's seen here uh in late May signing um a historic new initiative uh in our city where

024uh she is creating an office of violence prevention um that she will be uh intimately involved in and it's uh just one piece of a multi-pronged approach in terms of the city's antiviolence strategy and as we've shared here um particularly through our government relations work and and our legislative asks um when children come to school uh not just in Albany but when they come to school they're with us approximately 15% of their entire time. Um, so when you add up school hours and school days, you know, we only represent 180 days out of a calendar year and and six plus hours. And so we have been advocating for a long time with our elected officials around additional resources to school districts um because we know we can't take care of of all students and all

025facets of students lives during the school day. And so while we continue to advocate for those funds, not just as a school district, but all of the different uh school related agencies, it's it's certainly heartening and and nice to know that uh the mayor and the common council supports this this effort. So I was able to uh speak and participate at this groundbreaking event. uh we have members of our team that are uh intimately involved in shaping the strategy and what some of the measurables and uh key performance indicators will be. But I wanted to make sure that we um spend a few moments today thanking the mayor uh celebrating her vision u but most importantly having a seat at that very very important table. Yesterday marked the final uh blood drive effort at the

026high school and uh uh both students, faculty and community members obliterated their goal of 57 pints. They collected uh north of 70 71 pints uh and eclipsed uh 189 pints over the school year uh given the three different uh drives. So, uh, if if you know the folks who are intimately involved in the high school blood drive, you know that on your way out the door eating snacks and cookies, they're asking you to sign up for the next one. And so, here are the next ones uh right here. Uh, late September on the 24th, January 21st, and again in early June on June 3rd, next school year. End of school reminders. That's uh it's officially the end of school month. Uh a reminder, all district schools and offices are closing in recognition of Junth on

027Friday the 19th. Uh and you see uh all the different uh schedules we have for regent exams, last day classes, graduations, moving up ceremonies, uh all sorts of great celebrations and opportunities to recognize our students throughout um uh the last uh couple weeks of June. So uh as always, you can check out our school calendar online. Uh but um all of our uh endofear activities and uh bell schedules have been posted and communicated to families and we are wrapping up a very successful spring sports season and um that was that began uh just a couple days ago. Earlier this week, 27 student athletes uh participated in a signing ceremony in our gymnasium uh where they indicated where they are going to uh continue their athletic efforts um moving on to higher education. And so, uh,

028we want to thank Kim Pillah and her team for organizing such a such a special recognition, uh, for those students that, you know, it didn't matter whether whether your team, uh, was as successful as you would have hoped this year. Uh, it was an opportunity, uh, for individual uh, athletes to be recognized on behalf of their teams and because of their uh, their success on the field or on the court or or where have you. Uh, the Times Union was there. they are uh publish they are finishing uh editing a really nice story. Um but it was a great event and an opportunity for our our student athletes to um to thank their coaches and their families and and their time in our athletic department. And in fact, one of those 27 athletes will be

029attending my alma mater to play hockey at Niagara University. Uh so we'll make sure we keep an eye on uh on his success. And lastly, uh this is a pretty much an annual highlight here in early June talking about our uh boys and girls track and field team. Uh we had two first place finishes last week in the sectional championships. The 4x100 relay team uh finished the fifth fastest in the state this season. Um, and one of those members, Tariq Francis, also won the 100 meters with one of the 20th fastest time, one of the top 20 fastest time this season. And both boys and girls uh, track and field teams are competing today in the state qualifiers. And we'll make sure we keep you updated on their success. And that completes my report for

030tonight. Thank you, Superintendent. Board colleagues, as is our usual practice, I ask you to prioritize your questions and ask your most important question first. If there's time, we'll go around for a second round. Um, as per process, we'll start with our student board member, Mr. >> No comment. >> Mr. Almani. So, I just wanted to take a second and thank uh the folks from New Scotland for coming and serenating us so nicely. Um, I don't have any questions, but uh I also appreciate the update and um looking I always look forward to seeing all of the student athletes and where they're going. It's al it's like super exciting to me, right? You know, um they've got their entire lives ahead of them, so I wish them the best. Uh so no questions otherwise >> miss

031man. >> I have no questions. Thank you >> Miss Cr. >> Thank you to the superintendent for your presentation and congratulations to our student athletes that are moving forward. I'd like also like to echo what what my colleague said. Thanks for Scotland for being here and for the rare musical performance. Um, also I love their call back to the plastic purses because I bring that up with people when I talk about h studentled uh studentled initiatives and student voice and student engagement because that was totally stu student idea that students saw a problem, they figured out a way to solve it and they did something really tangible that made a difference and I am so proud of of that those students. students that school and the district for being able to encourage that kind of

032studentled activity. So just wanted to say that again. Thanks. >> Thank you, Miss Cr. >> Miss Wilson, >> thank you for your presentation. I was a breast of many of these um updates because I follow the district on social media. However, I um may have asked this before, but will we receive a debrief from the trip to Baltimore? And also were there any specific asks of the school district at this time? >> Yeah, we'll certainly um we can give an update uh from the visit. Uh Carrie Kenzone Ball, our director of PPS and one of her assistants regularly participates uh in that group. So I'll ask um I'll ask for an update and we'll share it with everyone. Miss Savage just stepped out. Um, I love the month of June because we get to celebrate

033all these different events. So, this last week was amazing. Um, the athletics u banquet or the athletics uh awards ceremony which I I could attend. I could attend the college signing ceremony. It was the whole auditorium was bustling. You could feel that falcon wipe. And you know, it's great. It's great to see that Falcon pride in our families, our students, everybody wanting to be there. um 27 kids, you know, are going to go to college and and participate in sport activities with the college team. So that is program is growing uh thanks to Kim Pella. You know, it's amazing what what what has happened uh in the whole athletics program. Talking about the blood drive, I didn't see somebody there yesterday. I wonder what happened. You know, I didn't see anybody talking about winning a

034belt or anything like that. Uh it was, by the way, my ninth gallon donation yesterday. a a gold medal donor for sure. You have a gold card now, don't you? >> So again, you know, do sign up. Uh I mean, I've been donating for many years. Uh but the moment I found out that the students organize it and I could donate at Everett or anywhere else or at the high school, when you donate at the high school, you get your donation in anyways. But the students get a cord. The students also get a a scholarship for college. So you know it's a double double winner there. So please please do think about contributing there if you can. Uh any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Okay. Moving on. This is the time. This is the public

035comment session. This is the time we set aside to hear from members of the public. Uh there are a few members who have signed up. Um the board always welcomes input from community about the decisions we are making. We we set aside up to 30 minutes for each meeting to hear from district residents, parents, students, and other members of our community. If there are more comments than can be accommodated in 30 minutes, which we don't anticipate today, we may choose to extend the length of the public comment period or alternately establish a second common period later in the meeting. We also accept comments virtually on the same basis as those in person and we accept comments in writing and by voicemail. We welcome comments in English and in any other language and we'll provide the

036translation when necessary. All comments must include the commenter's name and place of residence. We do not accept anonymous comments. All the information about these many ways to share your thoughts with us are available at addressing the board information at almanschools.org. We ask all commenters to keep in mind that information about individual students and specific district staff cannot be shared. Not only is that a violation of privacy, but every student and every staff member deserves to know that concerns about them will not be heard in public. And for that reason, board members who read written comments will pass over or substitute alternate words if individual names are mentioned. And we will eliminate those names and descriptions from recorded voicemails. Please keep in mind that public comment is not the best place to first alert the district

037to a concern you have. We ask that you share your concerns first with the relevant staff such as the teacher or the building principal. And if you feel that concern is not adequately addressed, you may appeal to the person's supervisor up the chain of command if necessary to the superintendent. The decisions made by the superintendent may be appealed to the board. And I think we have five or six written comments today which Mr. Almani will read to us. Yep, we have six. Okay. So, the first public comment comes from Caroline Corrian. It states, "Good evening. As a parent of three elementary students in our district and a part-time substitute teacher, I'm writing to address two critical issues. the infiltration of ed tech into countless aspects of the school day and unmonitored web browsing access on

038schoolisssued Chromebooks. While subbing at the middle school and high school, I regularly witness students logging onto YouTube, Spotify, and unblocked game mirror sites like hotgames.io during class. Much of the content is deeply disturbing. From a game about Jeffrey Epstein to violent p firstperson shooter games, games with sexual themes or references to suicide. When forced to compete with the entire internet, Google Classroom assignments lose every time. Even a distracted student doodling on paper handouts is vastly better than a student accessing the worst of the internet during instructional time. This isn't just an issue for older students. My third grade son informed me that students can access these same sites on his elementary Chromebook. An 8-year-old should never be exposed to this content in a classroom. While I notified my son's teacher, who handled the situation wonderfully

039and emailed the IT department, this required a systemic This requires a systemic solution. At an absolute minimum, the district must implement strict whistleblowing policies that only allow access to specific instructional websites required for the current lesson, blocking everything else. But truly, the issue runs deeper than filters. Chromebooks, edte, and AI are being vastly overused to the detriment of our children's education and attention spans. Students actually benefit from physical books, paper, and writing by hand. Furthermore, we should absolutely not be integrating AI into school until we know more about its effects on children. AI is not for children. An article in today's Times Union, teachers parents are teachers parents are no longer loving Chromebooks by Katherine Moore, June 3rd, 2026 tells me I am not alone in these concerns. Of course, technology has a role in

040public education, but its level of usage must be far more intentional. We need to we need concrete age appropriate policies around screens and schools. Fortunately, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. I am inspired by Los Angeles Unified School District's resolution passed this passed this past spring. LUSD successfully established healthy screen time boundaries that will go into effect this fall. Albany can and should do the same. Our children deserve an environment focused on hands-on learning and human connection. Thank you for your time, Caroline Coron. The next letter comes from Yuri Don and I apologize if I'm saying that incorrectly. It states, "On the national stage, more and more schools, teachers, families, and education leaders are questioning the unthinking adoption of techn technology in the classroom. The Los Angeles Unified School District has recently voted to

041limit students screen time in schools and even and the American Federation of Teachers has recently called to move away from digital devices in schools for our youngest students and to reject AI in schools. As a parent, I call upon the district to rethink its approach to educational technology use in the classrooms. There are increasing evidence-based studies that indicate that screens can hinder learning and there is little evidence to indicate that AI use, especially at the elementary school level, is beneficial to student learning. I ask that the district commit to intentional techn technology use and develop policies and guidance for schools around screen time limits in the classroom at different grade levels and institute a moratorum on AI use by students including but not limited to platforms like magic school and snorkel teaching and learning must

042be grounded in evidence-based research and the adoption of new technologies in learning must be approached with caution technology tools tools overall while useful in certain learning contexts must not be adopted uncritically as they can be detrimental to learning and development. I ask that the board consider these actions. The development of policies and guidance around AI and educational technology use including screen time based upon grade levels. a five-year moratorum on the incorporation of AI tools in student learning due to the rapid changes in generative AI and the potential known and unknown harmful effects of AI. When it comes to our children education, children's education, there is a benefit in not being early adopters and in not experimenting with their future. The bar for adoption must be high because the stakes are high. The development of a

043digital information literacy or cyber civics curriculum supported through funded professional development. The use of technology tools including AI does not constitute teaching about technology and our students need a literacy foundation before using AI tools which will be obsolete in their current form by the time they leave high school. Greater transparency on the adoption of education technology with clear communication to parents about what is being used in the classrooms, for what purpose and for how long. The protection of student data and privacy must remain paramount. Yuri Don. The next letter comes from the Albany um the Ash PTA, the Albany School of Humanities PTA. It states, "Dear Albany City School District Board of Education, we are writing to advocate for the establishment of district sponsored theater programs at the middle school level. Students at the Albany

044School of Humanities, ASH, benefit from a wonderful theater program run by dedicated district teachers. These students thrive as access thrive as access to theater programs improve improves literacy and communication skills, boosts self-confidence and self-esteem, develops empathy and emotional intelligence, improves teamwork and collaboration, and provides an outlet for creative expression, imagination. As a students transition to middle school, they find that no district sponsored programs exist. Many of our elementary students don't experience a theater program until they move on to high school. This gap in our arts education creates a significant disconnect for students who have developed a passion and a talent for theater during their elementary years and an inequitable disadvantage to all students. At present, the only available options for our middle schoolers are privatelyrun tuitionbased community theater programs. Despite the fact that many of

045these programs offer excellent opportunities to some of our students, relying on outside organizations presents several issues regarding equity and accessibility. Community programs often require substant substantial tuition or fees. Even when these programs claim that the cost is not a barrier, the associated expenses and the process of seeking financial aid still excludes a subset of our student population. The programs are not necessarily held at the students homechools and often are held at times that are incompatible with working parents schedules. The inclusion of non-district children also make these pro productions more competitive and less community focused than districtto school hosted plays. Our goal should be to create an equitable, robust, highquality and school-based theater pipeline that spans from elementary elementary through high school. Thus, we are asking you to consider extended extending inschool theater options across the

046district and specifically in the middle schools to ensure that all students have access to the cognitive and social benefits of theater and the performing arts before arriving at the high school program. By sponsoring theater programs at the middle school level, we can ensure that theater remains equitable and accessible to all students within our desk district, regardless of their financial situation. We hope you will consider this request to invest in our students growth and ensure a consistent education for all. Sincerely, the Ash PTA. The next letter comes from Kaylee Gakus. It states, "I am concerned that the district is promoting the use of artificial intelligence in elementary classroom when there is no established educational benefit for its use by elementary age children. I also have privacy concerns regarding the current artificial intelligence programs used by my

047children at Monasuri Magnet School, including Snorkel and Magic School. My Freedom of Information Law request submitted April 17th, 2026, seeking information about the specific privacy reviews engaged in by the district personnel before the roll out of these technologies has gone unanswered. Kaylee Gakus. The next email is from Annette Panzeroni. The American Federation of Teachers, AFT, just recommended no screens for children attending pre kindergarten through and including second grade and no AI chat bots for elementary school students. Currently, Albany City Elementary Schools provide personal laptops to all elementary students and has been introducing AI to fourth grade students based off AFT's new recommendations and the evidence coming in reflecting that screen time for elementary school students is detrimental to learning. What change uh what changes are the Albany Board of Education and the Albany School District

048able to make to elementary school education for the 2627 school year? Can parents expect a return to paper and pencil note takingaking and testing and textbooks in the classroom for elementary school students? Annette Panzer. And the last letter is from Carrie Mulligan. It states, "As the board is likely aware, there is growing evidence and organizing across the country against the over reliance on edtech and rapid adoption of AI in school settings. On May 27th, the American Federation of Teachers released a 10-point plan to boost teaching and learning in the AI era. Three noteworthy recommendations I hope the board will consider include one, no screens for students from preK to second grade unless there is a compelling reason such as serving special needs students and two, no student facing AI in elementary schools and a ban

049on AI social companion chat bots for students until at least the age of 16. and three, redesign schooling so active learning, including project-based, experimental, and career connected learning is the norm across all grade levels. My comment today reflects my hope that our school board will meaningfully engage with these concerns and take a more proactive role in shaping how our district engages with educational technology. My understanding is that to date the board's main action on AI was adoption of a policy related to student AI usage at home. I was therefore concerned to learn that ACSD has already contracted with two educational AI software companies, Snorkel and Magic School, and that these tools are being used in our elementary classrooms. My hopes for what board action on this issue could involve include one, the board agrees to

050oversee design and implement of an evidenceinformed, transparent, and inclusive process for re-evaluating our approach to screens and educational technology in the classrooms. This should involve comprehensive evaluation of the research evidence on tech on educational technology as well as robust input and engagement from teachers, other educators, parents, and students. Two, the board adopt an immediate two-year moratorium on the usage of AI tools and classrooms so that any future engagement can be informed by robust robust assessment process. As a district parent, my hope is that ACSD shifts our orientation to technology such that a techn technology rich school environment is not viewed as inherently desirable, but rather technology is utilized purposefully when it is demonstrated to support desired learning outcomes. Equipping students for the future requires an ability to understand and critically engage with technology. This goal

051is not served by our students solely being end users of these tools. Thank you for the time and your service on the board. Carrie Malcin, that was the last one. >> Thank you, Mr. Almanavi. We do have people signed up for uh inerson comment. Uh please let me know if I mispronounce your name. We try very hard to to get people's names right and we appreciate it when we are correct when you correct us. Uh when I recognize you, please state your name and city of residence. Statements are restricted to a minimum of 3 minutes. And then our board secretary, Ellen Crerachche, will give you one minute notice and a 10-second notice. And I'll notify you if your time is expired. It's a good idea to look up occasionally to see those notices so you

052will not be surprised at the end of your 3 minutes. Also, please note that the board's policy is not to respond during the public comment. If you need a response, please contact us by email, phone, or personal mail. And our contact information is available again at albschools.org/bee and either I or a member of our team will respond on behalf of the board. First we have uh Mary Nolan will be virtual and followed by Mary would be an McGrath. So please take a seat. >> Hello. I'm I'm Mary Nolan speaking on behalf of CPAC, the Albany Special Education Parent Advisory Council. We've spoken before about reading in general, but tonight I want to speak specifically about dyslexia. This topic is personal to me because I have a young adult daughter who has dyslexia. My volunteer work

053with Aubony CPAC is informed and inspired by the years I spent trying and failing to get appropriate reading instruction for her. years I spent learning the principles of Orton Gillingham reading instruction. Years of teaching her myself how to read when our home school district, not this one, was not able to. And the years she spent at a private school where she finally got appropriate school-based reading instruction. I know I'm privileged. I'm a speech language pathologist with a master's degree in education from a program where I never heard the word dyslexia. It took me years to figure out how to help my daughter. years when she suffered from feeling incapable, from having to work twice as hard as the other kids in her class, from having to get reading instruction for hours after school when she

054was already exhausted from the school day. My family had the funds to pay for private school. My daughter was fortunate to finally get what she needed. But no kid in no family should suffer so much for the basic right of learning to read. 100 years ago, Dr. Samuel Orton figured out that dyslexia is a neurological difference that affects how we learn to read, spell, and process written language. 90 years ago, Anna Gillingham, a psychologist, developed a method for teaching dyslexic people to read. We now know this as Orton Gillingham. OG programs provide structured, explicit, systematic instruction in FMIC awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These approaches are supported by decades of scientific research and they are required to successfully teach students with dyslexia. We commend the district on moving towards a new science-based general education

055reading curriculum. We know that 95% of students can learn to read at grade level given instruction grounded in the science of reading. A new curriculum is an important first step, but this alone will not remediate years of learning struggles, reading struggles for students who have already fallen behind. Nor will it help students diagnosed with or suspected of having dyslexia. Teaching future students or future citizens to read is one of the main tasks of school. Students with dyslexia need intensive evidence-based remediation from teachers certified in OG principles. Reading is a matter of equity and a civil rights issue. We must invest the funds and the effort into building a robust reading program for remediation remediating students. We thank the school district for their continuing efforts to work towards ensuring that in our district literacy is truly

056accessible to all. Good night. >> Thank you, Miss Nolan. Miss Mcgra. Yeah. Can you press the button? Oh, there you go. >> Somebody pressed it for me. Thank you so much. Um, good evening. My name is Anne McGrath. I'm a parent and a taxpayer who's made Albany my home for the past 25 years. I'm also an enterprise risk officer at the University of Albany. My career's focus has been to scrutinize systems and processes at large-scale public and private institutions to identify preventable failures before they become irreparable. I'm here tonight Sorry, because I'm looking at one. Didn't expect this. Sorry, I've been stoned all day. Um, my husband and I have a 15-year-old thriving at Albany High School and a nine-year-old daughter in third grade with diagnosed dyslexia. >> Sorry, I'm trying to pull it together

057here. >> It's okay. >> Please give me some extra time. >> Uh, she's not thriving and frankly, she's out of time. I do believe the educators in this district care about children. Our kids have had amazing, dedicated teachers. And what I'm here to talk about is not a failure of caring. It's a failure of the tools and training that those teachers have been provided and the systems that support them. This is something that the board has the power to fix. Our daughter received supports mere months into kindergarten, but when those proved ineffective, they were increased and showed little improvement. Despite continually raising concerns that her difficulties may be related to dyslexia, the response was always, "We don't do that here." She's now going to fourth grade where children are no longer taught to read. They're

058expected to know how. The only options on the table for her now are not driven by what research says will help a dyslexic student. They're just driven by what the district has to offer. And what this district has to offer is entirely inadequate. That is a policy failure. Dyslexia is not a cognitive impairment. It's not a measure of intelligence. It is neurobiological difference in how the brain processes sound symbol association. The science has been settled for decades. When we misunderstand the neuroscience, we misplace the child. And a misplaced child does not catch up. Research shows that one in five have dyslexia. Albany serves 8,300 students, meaning meaning upwards of 1,600 children here likely have dyslexia. Our uh ELA proficiency for the district is at 28% against the statewide average of 48 while spending $28,000 plus

059per pupil. This is not a funding issue. It's a training problem and it's a geographic one. There's not a single specialized dyslexia school commutable from the city. The nearest one is 2 and a half hours away. New York State formally acknowledged this crisis in December by establishing the Center for Dyslexia and Disgraphia. The legislature sees the problem and this board does should too. I also want to say for the families who will never sit at this microphone working two jobs navigating the system in a second language. The burden of failure lands hardest on those least equipped to fight back. This is an equity crisis. I could say more but thank you for your time. >> Thank you Miss McGrath. May I have Roberto Reid and Mr. Paul Kane aka Batman. Come up to the front.

060>> Miss Reed, you're first. >> Okay. Is this okay? You can hear me. All right. Okay. >> Um, I live in Albany. I u Thank you for listening. In January of 2024, I spoke to this board asking for early dyslexia screening and the presence of a certified structured literacy teacher in each elementary school. As far as I can tell, Albany still has no specified effective track for students with dyslexia to be identified early with a dyslexia screener and have immediate access to a fully certified structured language teacher right away. Students with extreme reading difficulties still go through MTSS, which does not, to my knowledge, yet include five times a week, one-hour structured literacy instruction, which has been proven to work for this type of learner. The way to effectively teach students with dyslexia is not

061putting them in a classroom with extra support and no SL instruction. Success is dependent on the type of researchbased program. Systematic, explicit, multi-ensory, including phonics, fluency, phmic awareness, vocabulary, and comprehension. It includes tons of review, which every dyslexic student needs, not leaving an area of study until mastery is reached. That is structured literacy. All students with dyslexia need access to this kind of targeted instruction. It's a social justice issue as well as an educational one. Currently in the Senate and Assembly are several bills dealing with early ID of atrisisk students using a dyslexia screener, teacher training, and districts providing the correct program for students with dyslexia. Albany could be a trends setter, a pilot for what's coming. So I ask again, early identification of dyslexia and a fully certified SL teacher in each elementary school

062for starters. As an aside, I know that you're going to be hearing about a new general ed reading program, and I beg you to ask for evidence that the program will contain extensive daily, explicit, and sequential phonics instruction. In addition to the other science of reading tenants, many programs advertise that they are based on science of reading. So, it's imperative that you study and make sure that it's true. Um, our students need an up-to-date reading program reflecting current research. But remember, students with dyslexia need a structured language program. Thank you for listening. I am a parent of past Albany school students and current grandparent of ash students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Rein. May we have Musa? Is it Zana? >> Zana, please join us. Mr. Batman. Um, good evening. I I'll try and

063be quick about this. Uh, I'm Batman. Uh, Paul Collins, born and raised in Albany. Um, and I had the distinct privilege of attending all Alb city schools throughout my whole tenure. They were numbers back then. They didn't even have the cool names um that old. So, um, I genuinely love the district, right? I love the city above all else. I am executive director of stuff and I have different things. I'm not here wearing any of those hats tonight. I'm literally just speaking as a parent and a community member. Um, and I have a couple of things. My care for Alman doesn't just stop at kids. It's also very much about the adults, the families, and our staff. Right. I understand I can't speak too specifically about situations because I don't know the details of every

064situation. I don't claim to and I'm sure there's things going on that you can't speak about personnel stuff, right? My question and my larger concern is with that communication and the plans and how we address different staffing concerns. Most immediately what this is kind of triggered by the catalyst for this is the Times Union article that came out. It was about a custodian who was staying in Hackett. Um, obviously I understand there's a whole investigation, lots of moving pieces. Understandable. From a community perspective, we have to react off of the information that we're given. So, myself and others, we gathered some community support. We're trying to help this guy as best as possible. And I very much hope and wish that we can work with the district to support this guy. Been a part of

065the district for 17 years. all these other things very much is intertwined with the families and become more than just the guy who works there. He's a part of our community and we want to make sure that we take care of him in the same way. Um similarly, there's a situation um involving another staff member who was moved from one school to another. Again, I don't claim to know the specifics of Wow, that quick. I don't exclaim to know the specifics of all those situations, but that person is also someone who's trusted and very valued in my community. I'm going to be sending my daughter to that school. And I felt very safe and very assured knowing that he was there. Now, when these things change and I don't know why, but as a community,

066it's entirely concerning that we don't know why. We don't know who's there. We don't know what's going on. And that leaves me very uncertain. And in the South End, I have Hackit and on one side and Gifin on the other. So, I'm very much left looking around like what are we going to do? And again, I'm not trying to, you know, throw just problems out. I am working on solutions, too. I'm more than willing to help support whatever that communication plan looks like. However, we can help advocate or whatever needs to happen. I very much want to be a part of those processes. Um, I respect everybody on this board. You know, I know a lot of you personally and I very much appreciate that. I only have 10 seconds left. Um, I understand I

067am here to help. what we do defines us and also we can help with dyslexia stuff too. I set my own timer too but we can help with dyslexia too. Red bookshelf uh will help with all of that stuff. Um screenings and everything. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Bman, may I have Danielle Hill join us too? Okay, Mr. Zama. >> Uh yes, I'll try to be quick as well. Um, I'm not sure if this is the correct form as well as I see you can't really speak too much about personnel issues, but um, as one of the issues that Paul was talking about earlier, um, I've worked with that gentleman that was moved for many years. Uh, I actually live in East Green Bush, but I I've worked in Albany for a number

068of years, worked with a number of community groups and schools here. um and just wanted to lend my support that I'm hoping that whatever's going on with that uh person can be worked out and I just wanted to come here and lend my support. >> Thank you, Miss Hill. >> Can you turn the mic on? >> You turn Okay, there it goes. Thank you. Uh my name is Danielle Hilly. I live in um the second ward where um Gifin Elementary is. I also am here to speak and surprise provide support to the same gentlemen as the previous two. I actually prepared a written um letter for you guys with some examples since all the information can't be shared this way in this forum. Yeah, you can pass it on to Miss Timmons and uh you

069know she'll give us a copy, >> but go ahead and read your >> I'm I'm not going to read it because it does include all the all of the information briefly. >> But what I will say is from the from what information I have been given. It seems that this situation arose from social media. It's very concerning to me because bad news and false news spreads rather quickly on the internet. It's unchecked. It's unverified. It's commented on. It's shared. And a lot of times people don't do their don't do good due diligence in the in determining if the comments are credible. You know, this happens with everyone. It's happening right now. It's happening around our country. You know, the idea of fake news has significantly altered the way that we take in information and how

070we feel towards its credibility or its truth. The the post which started this from my understanding was actually something that I came across first. It was a string of posts by this poster that um made a lot of unverified claims, made some pretty significant allegations and named both community um members as well as like elected officials, formerly elected officials, and even someone who's deceased. Um, these comments came from an individual who also posted about his own struggles with mental health, including comments about being hospitalized. He posted um photos of the charges that he had been charged with, photos of his medications, conspiracy theories, a lot of stuff that just even from an untrained eye should bring into serious question any allegations that that were made by him. So what I have provided you is screenshots

071of multiple posts that occurred around the same time for you to be able to look through. If you would like I can also pass on the digital version which is in color. It's easier to read. Obviously I didn't want to make this like 20 pages long. So I'm happy to pass that on as well. You know really the most important thing to me is that due process is provided. you protect the kids first, but also there needs to be a significant >> investigation. >> You can you can send the digital version to Mr. Evans and we can >> Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. >> We appreciate all public comments and we find hearing from community members very valuable. Once again, our contact information for both public comment and routine correspondence is at albonychools.org/po. org/poe.

072We now move to the part of our meeting we call routine consent. During this portion of the meeting, we approve routine matters to the district. These include items like contracts, field trips, personnel matters, and the like. Each board member reviews each item carefully, but we vote on them together as a group with no discussion. This allows us to use their meeting time more efficiently. Nonetheless, each board member has the option to set aside any routine consent item in order to require a separate discussion and vote on that item. With that introduction, I now entertain a motion to adopt the routine consent agenda. Miss Cree, Miss Wilson, any set aides hearing? No set aides. Uh, all in favor of adopting routine consent agenda. That's unanimous. Okay. So as is a normal practice um you know um

073we this should be our last this was our last action item for tonight. Um the rest of the meetings I don't anticipate the board will take any action items. The balance of the meeting will be just discussions which could lead to an action either at a next meeting or a future meeting. Uh this brings us to discussion of policy. I'll pass on the mic to Miss Crerachche, policy chair. >> Hello. We have two policies that we discussed at the May policy meeting to bring before you for discussion this evening. Um the first is policy 0100 anti-discrimination and equal opportunity. The second is 0110 sexual harassment. The minor change to both policies is that they currently say that anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies apply to district officers and employees. And the committee felt it was appropriate

074to also add district agents which would include contractors, volunteers, etc. working for working on behalf of the district. Those people are also prohibited to discriminate or harass. Um, are there any questions or comments regarding regarding those proposed changes? Okay. He Oh, sorry. So, um, our president, Dr. has stepped out. So, I'm going to turn the microphone back to him when he returns. I should also say I guess policy committee brief. We were able to discuss a few other policies at MA's meeting including the code of conduct. Those the code of conduct and I believe at least one other policy probably the electronics student use of electronics policy will be before us for discussion. Um those will come back to policy in June and then and then they will come to the board at our next

075board meeting. And now that our president has returned, I will turn I will turn the microphone back over to him. Okay, >> no questions. There were no questions. Okay, moving on. Next discussion topic is the office of assessment accountability and technology presentation. Welcome Dr. Pipina. >> Good evening, Board of Education. Um, since we're sharing the microphone, can you hear me? Okay. Yes. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> All right. So, we are excited to share with you tonight the latest updates from the Office of Assessment, Accountability, and Technology Innovation for the 2526 school year. We continue to prioritize the district's vision, mission, and goals in all of our efforts. Our main responsibilities revolve around fostering innovation, providing support and management, and improving integration and efficiency to streamline daily operations for all staff and students. We

076are committed to advancing innovative strategies for both systems and instructional practices throughout the district while also safeguarding the digital safety and security of the network infrastructure and our users. The work of the division is managed by a group of 28 exceptionally skilled professionals. to speak about that work. I'm joined tonight by Patricia Wolf, the director of data and accountability, John Wild, the director of technology and instructional technology coaches, Jeremy Dudley and Terrence McN. I will now begin with a brief update regarding state assessments. Shaina Barber serves as our part-time testing coordinator and she excels in organizing and managing the administration of the annual state assessments for grades three through eight in ELA math and science. She also oversees the K12 New York State English as a second language achievement test, also known as the NIS

077slot. While a six-week state testing window can pose its own challenges, it is intended to ensure that as many students as possible are tested, this has led to increased participation rates and ultimately improved outcomes for the purposes of accountability. Additionally, the overall number of refusals remain lower than in previous years, as does the number of students marked absent for specific tests. After 23 years, the this year marks the final year of the NISA slot as New York State has recently joined the WEDA consortium. The WEDA consortium is a collaboration involving 42 states, territories, and federal agencies all working to enhance the educational experiences of multilingual learners. The name of the new test is WEDA access. Similar to the NIS lot, WEDA access for kindergarten will still be conducted on paper. For grades 1 through 12,

078the assessment will be given primarily online with paper versions available particularly for students with special needs requiring specific accommodations. The assessments are designed to be adaptive covering listening, speaking, reading, and writing, dynamically adjusting to each student's ability level. There's still much to learn about the technical aspects of these assessments, but of course, we will continue to collaborate with the ENL department as we start to understand more about the WEDA to ensure everyone is prepared for the first administration next school year. I will now turn the microphone over to Miss Patricia Wolf. Good evening, members of the board. Today, I would like to give you an update on our progress on the replacement of our student management system given in the January 9th SBU. It has been the most consuming project at the current moment in

079my department. This has been a few years in the making with input from numerous stakeholders and a systematic review of needs from a technical, operational, and business lens. To revisit the why, it is important that we try to streamline the many systems that staff, students, and families have to access. There are many systems and there is often confusion of where to go and or get or enter information. This was also the main feedback from PTO meetings. Infinite campus offers more robust solutions and interoperability with modules that can potentially replace disparate systems. The simple feature of being able to add in links to external systems is a win to help avoid confusion as we streamline systems. Some areas that are potential early wins in efficiency are the integration of behavior, entry and attendance scanning, multi-tered support

080uh system of support or MTSS intervention tracking, components of academic planning and seal tracking in the area of counseling and college and career readiness and the addition of district custom forms and integration of other external forms into the system such as open enrollment, MTSS forms, contact changes to name a few. Currently we are on schedule for the full implementation on July 1st. We have been partially live for the central registration department since midappril and have been feverishly working on the secondary master schedules in the new system which I'm happy to report are 95% complete. Thus far we have held about 30 of the 70 trainings planned as user training and support is critical for adoption and smooth transition. This June the focus will be twofold. teacher introductory training for elementary, middle, and high school levels

081and parent communication to announce the change in transition. In preparation for the conversion, the parent the the conversion of parent portal accounts, anformational letter will be sent this month in early July. Creation of current school tool parent portal accounts will be done in the new system. Communication will be sent with instructions at this time in addition to instructions for creating accounts for families without portal accounts. There is also a planned overlap throughout the summer so that parents can continue to access grades for the past year while we do our final data transfer. Despite our learning curve, we are on track for completion of master schedules. We've configured gradebook setups to help with grading consistency and also the ease of teacher transition at the secondary level. The attendance and behavior outcomes are integrated and linked. We've

082had preliminary setup of integrated attendance scanning and setups of templates for future mail merges and such. Um we have creation of custom forms that autofill inside the system. And we have also are creating district defined help which we can actually embed in the contextual help in the system to help users. Uh we also have on demand training modules that can be assigned or selected by staff to help with staff training and onboarding of new staff. And now I will turn it over to my colleague John Wild. >> Thank you. Good evening, Board of Education. I'd like to begin with this graphic that depicts that depicts the ever growing ecosystem of technology support within our district. Much like a tree, additional branches continue to grow each year. Most folks think K12 technology only consists of desktops

083and Chromebooks. However, our staff of 12 supports close to 36,000 managed endpoints. As part of those 36,000 endpoints, we've also seen exponential device growth over the last three years, which is depicted on this slide. Our division always starts with the Y, which is to support education. However, we need to balance that with being an enterprise levelsized organization. K12 technology departments are often thought of as reactive. However, we have made huge strides over the last several years to grow from being reactive to proactive. This this was accomplished by implementing standardized classroom technology, a 5-year replacement plan, a preventative maintenance schedule, and ongoing planning with buildings. Becoming more proactive has allowed us to focus on high impacting initiatives that will be discussed on the upcoming slides. First, we have the district's smart schools investment plans. Our district,

084our division has responsibly used funding from other sources to replace equipment and network infrastructure, which will allow the district to use the remaining $2.9 million of unallocated smart bonds funds for security camera upgrades. Next, we have our NICE approved technology plan, which was approved by the board this evening. Our committee of 20 members met monthly to review the previous plans goal attainment and develop new objectives. I also held office hours with neric repres representatives for feedback uh to ensure a timely submission. Our plan was submitted to SED ahead of the midappril deadline and we received SED approval on April 15th. Our full goals are depicted on this slide, but to summarize, goal one focuses on partnering with the office of curriculum and instruction to ensure alignment with the computer science and digital fluency standards. Goal

085two focuses on partnering with the professional development committee to increase staff proficiency by integrating technology into instruction. And goal three focuses on bolstering cyber security through the reduction of vulnerabilities in our environment while increasing enduser cyber security awareness. During last year's divisional update, we discussed business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Per recommendation from last year's current state assessment, we are now engaging with a business continuity with business continuity and disaster recovery experts to conduct a business impact analysis or BIA. As part of the BIA, we have identified seven core business units that are crucial for us to conduct business. We are now meeting with each of those units to complete comprehensive questionnaires and document processes processes, people, and systems. Our BCDR experts will then review the questionnaires, compile all information, and provide feedback as well

086as gaps that may exist. The BIA will also allow us to conduct future initiatives such as developing what are called runbooks and conducting tabletop exercise to improve business continuity. It is important to note that while K12 districts understand the importance of BCDR, most districts do not dedicate the time to conduct these reviews. I'm extremely proud of this initiative. Finally, the intention of this graphic is to raise concern Threat actors are currently looking for entry points into organizations networks. I'd like to draw your attention to the important educational sector statistics. Please note that human error is the root cause of 95% of all cyber security breaches. As discussed at last year's divisional update, we were selected as part of the FCC's cyber pilot, which includes $400,000 worth of funding over the course of the next three

087years. As part of that pilot, we identified cyber security gaps, followed FCC processes, made a product selection in July of 2025, and received our funding commitment letter in March of 2026, which allows us to begin implementation, which is currently ongoing. And now I will turn it back over to Dr. Prespatino. >> I knew this part of the presentation was going to be lengthy. I realize that is Who knows where we're going with this after that. Um so I am still very excited to talk about this um because there's been a lot of work, deliberate work done in this area. Um the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence signifies a pivotal shift in education, giving us the perfect opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our district vision to be a district of excellence that ensures equitable opportunities

088for every student to achieve their potential. The district's forthcoming AI guidebook for educators lays out a proactive, legally compliant, and pedagogically sound framework. This framework is is designed to address the national landscape concerning technology implementation by balancing two essential priorities. Maximizing purposeful future ready learning while carefully managing screen time through intentional human- centered teaching practices. Let's take a moment to reflect on the district's journey of integrating AI thus far. It all began in 2023 when the technology coaches conducted their inaugural professional development session on AI and education. 2024 led to the formation of the AI task force. This group's efforts resulted in numerous recommendations on how to effectively incorporate artificial intelligence into our educational framework. Also in 2024, the district entered into partnerships with Magic School and Snorkel. To date, these AI platforms remain the

089leading tools use used in the district to provide students with appropriate and safe interactions with AI. And I want to say first before I move on that when we originally started partnering with Magic School, the student side of it didn't exist. It was originally brought into the district as a way to actually teach adults how to properly engage with AI and to and to develop prompts and things like that. the student side came later and when they were ready for it. Um, we regularly re so these are recommendations from the AI task force. We regularly revisit these recommendations from the AI task force as they remain essential in guiding our work within the division and throughout the district at large, especially when considering the content and structure of the upcoming AI guide book. In early

0902025, the district imple implemented AI policy 8636, which established the groundwork for our continuous efforts to appropriately incorporate AI into our educational framework. Last summer, the district began drafting the AI guidebook for educators to clearly express our philosophical and technical position on AI applications. The primary goal of the guidebook is to foster accessibility and ensure the ethical use of AI while preparing students for the future. It has been shaped and revisited throughout the school year by input from administrators and teacher leaders. Their insights have been essential, ensuring that the guidebook is both comprehensive and practical for daily use. Technology and AI are never deployed simply as high-tech novelties. Instead, their integration is strictly contextual, designed to enhance teacher practice and drive student achievement. As AI alters higher education and the modern workforce, AI literacy has

091shifted from an optional asset to a non-negotiable foundational skill necessary for student success. To aid in conceptualizing a format for the district AI guide book, we began by examining existing guidance documents from various states and school districts. We analyzed what aspects we appreciated and what we found lacking regarding the overall layout and information organized within these documents. The topics on this slide have been incorporated into our AI guide book. Let's take a quick peek at how some of these topics are explained within. Recently, educators and parents throughout the United States have expressed legitimate concerns about excessive screen time for students, digital fatigue, and reliance on passive device use. The City School District of Albany recognizes these issues and it advocates for the intentional use of technology through a human- centered AI approach. When a teacher

092determines that the use of AI is appropriate, the district's AI guide book outlines a human in the loop approach, ensuring that technology does not control the learning experience. The process begins with human inquiry followed by a brief period of AI assistance for drafting or organizing information. It concludes with the essential step of human reflection where both students and staff assess the accuracy and potential use of AI outputs before synthesizing them with their own expertise. To provide transparency on the extent to which a student can use an approved AI tool, the guide book outlines a standardized stoplight matrix across grade bands. Once teachers are trained on this process, they will be asked to identify the stoplight color for certain learning tasks before an assignment begins. The AI guide book provides guidance on addressing academic dishonesty with

093students as it relates to the inappropriate use of AI in line with district communicate district recommendations. This approach is meant to promote a culture of trust and integrity through open discussions on ethical AI usage rather than relying on AI detectors to catch cheating. This is intended to enhance students digital literacy and prepare them for responsible technology use. The district reviews the a district views the AI guide book as a living document to be reviewed and updated periodically. This iterative process guarantees that our AI strategies stay relevant, effective, and aligned with our educational objectives. The goal is to strike a balance between avoiding over reliance on technology and steering clear of ineffective blanket bands. By emphasizing the importance of the elements identified here, the district aims to ensure that technology serves to enhance meaningful human-led learning

094rather than becoming a mere distraction. The focus for this summer is to finalize the first version of the district AI guidebook and identify opportunities for a roll out to educators and staff in the fall. Additionally, we will create a comprehensive communication strategy to keep families informed utilizing parent input to develop an FAQ and a with with a long-term method for gathering feedback. Tenatively, we plan to provide students in grades 7 through 12 with access to Gemini for education in the winter of 2027. This will give secondary students appropriate independent access to a district approved tool to enhance their learning experiences prior to going to college or joining the workforce as we navigate the upcoming school year. Remaining flexible, open-minded, and responsive to feedback will be essential. We are dedicated to making our district's AI journey

095inclusive, effective, and advantageous for everyone involved. To conclude our update for tonight, I will now turn the microphone over to the instructional technology coaches. >> Thank you. Good evening, members of the board, Superintendent Hawk Rider, uh, community members in attendance, and those watching online. Uh, my name is Jeremy Dudley, and I'm joined by Terrence McN on behalf of the other members of our full-time technology coaching team. I want to thank you for the years of support and assure you that in the City School District of Albany, we use technology intentionally to benefit student learning and to prepare students for the world they'll enter. Currently, broad brushes are being used to paint a picture of technology in schools that's not reflective of what technology integration looks like here in our district. To clarify, we use technology

096to amplify high impact instruction, and to promote active learning. We use technology to differentiate instruction, create engaging learning experiences, provide timely feedback, and allow for real time datainformed decision-making. Our technology, our use of technology is aligned with our guiding principles and led by our instructional goals. It's purposeful, aligned, and benefits student learning. We leverage a wide range of tools and resources to support inclusive lesson design in a variety of ways. Assistive technology supports ensure that all students are able to participate fully in the classroom. We also support our multil-inguistic learners by making learning more accessible in alignment with district guidance and resources. This is another example of how we intentionally use technology to meet the needs of our learners and how we collaborate with other departments to problem solve and deliver aligned messaging. Purposeful technology

097integration enhances learning outcomes. By aligning digital tools with New York State's portrait of a graduate, we can empower student voice and agency, create more engaging and personalized learning experiences, and maintain rigorous academic standards that prepare students for success in a rapidly evolving world. This work takes many forms, including building capacity through systematic weekly tech tips, monthly newsletters, and coaching cohorts. Partnering directly with teachers, meeting them where they are, and moving forward together according to their goals and our best practices. collaborating with district leadership, including administrators, instructional supervisors, and other coaches, as well as with vendor partners in order to align technology resources with curriculum and instructional goals and providing high value professional development that is aligned with our district's guiding principles. PD occurs throughout the school year and during our summer technology integration academy, which

098is consistently praised by participants for its excellence and impact. For years, this work has been developing a culture of thoughtful, purposeful integration of technology to support pedagogical best practices, enhance teaching and learning, and drive student achievement. But you don't have to take our word for it. I integrate technology in my classroom because it meaningfully increases student achievement, supports personalized learning, and gives both students and teachers immediate insight into understanding. I create technology to amplify my teaching, not replace it. It gives me real time insight into student thinking that I can't get from paper alone. It allows me to be more intentional, responsive, and effective for my students. >> I think it's really engaging and I also like it because it is more personalized, especially for me. I choose to integrate technology into my classroom because

099it helps me to ensure that each student is receiving meaningful feedback every day. >> Technology is very helpful because it helps check my understanding. You have your feedback immediately. >> It gives you a score and also some feedback on how to make your response stronger. I have more than one chance to get it right. This helps me learn from my mistake while the lesson from my teacher is still fresh in my mind. >> Technology does not replace my role as a teacher, but strengthens my ability to plan intentionally, respond in the moment, and create learning experiences that are engaging and rigorous for all students. >> I integrate technology in the classroom to make sure that all of my students have access to the material. Using technology helps me open the door to a variety of

100responses and ensures that all students can participate. >> Students of all ability levels were able to communicate what they knew and actively participate in our lessons. >> Technology makes it easier for me to reach those students who need the most support and challenge the students who are ready to go deeper and then support everyone else in between. When I can use technology to design to my edges, I create a space for all my students to grow. Teachers answer hundreds of questions every single day. But using technology in my classroom helps me to ask more questions to deepen student thinking and understanding. >> Using technology allows me to dig deeper into the cultural experiences of the students. It's so important to me that all children have ownership and agency over their own learning. >> In my

101classroom, keeping purpose at the heart of technology is what allows us to elevate learning and help students take true ownership of their growth. I remain fully involved in the process, ensuring our technology enhances rather than replaces that vital teacher student relationship. I can repurpose some of my classroom time to maximize my face tof face connection. It gives me the freedom to focus on what matters most, my students. We are committed to supporting purposeful technology integration that aligns with best practices, curricula, and guiding principles. We promote safe, responsible, and intentional use of educational technology that empowers teachers to provide the best possible learning experiences for our students. >> That concludes our presentation for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Pertino and rest of your team. Um, Miss Bernell, >> no questions, but that was

102a very in-depth presentation. Thank you so much and it was great to see how this form of technology can be used to better educate our students and so on. So great presentation. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> So um we are living in very interesting times. >> Okay. They want to build a data center across the street from my job. Uh, my kid asks me about chat GPT all the time. Um, we've got a lot of people that are rightfully cautious and I've used AI pretty much since it came out. Um, and there are there are genuinely concerns. Um, and it's it's challenging because it's a tool and tools can be used for good or bad. Period. I mean, that is that is the bottom line. Um, it's our job to do as

103much as we possibly can to prevent our students from accessing anything that can be detrimental to their future. And um, I also think that it is good that we're thinking about it and using it. I also think that we should be cautious and a little bit more um cognizant of and I just put it this way the companies that create the specific programs. Um, I can tell you right now, like I said, it could be used for good, it could be used for bad AI right now. And a lot of the processing powers um that people often times want to um hate on like, you know, why does it take this much data? It's because they're pro they're doing millions and millions and millions of processes in, you know, a few seconds. And a lot

104of those processes aren't necessarily making, you know, a car with legs, you know, eating pizza or something. It's actually really nefarious things that are a little bit um not even a little bit, a lot of bit over over the line. They cross boundaries. So, we want to really be sure that we're not engaging with companies that, let's just say, utilize AI to find uh undocumented immigrants or maybe uh find potential targets on the battlefield, you know, because that to me is more scary. Okay. introducing products that are made by companies that are spin-offs of war companies and just like our families mentioned uh learning about our children. >> Mhm. >> So, um everything has to be, you know, we have to be cautious, we have to move slow. And what that means to me is

105maybe pulling back a little bit in terms of just the like for example the Gemini from 7 to 12 maybe it should be just high school. >> Mhm. >> You know like and we need to have a discussion about it with parents with us with professionals um who are also studying this because it's all very new. It's all very very new. Um so I am always impressed by your your team's work uh Dr. Prescatino and um we are just in very strange times. >> We are >> we really are >> and um we're far from deciding exactly where to go with Gemini for Education. But I can assure the board that we have been already deep in studying how Gemini for education works versus how Gemini for the consumer works because they are not the

106same which is exactly what they should not be the same. you know, one's for students, one is not. Um, so we are learning as much as we can about the uh the pros and cons of Gemini for Education so that when a decision is made, we go into it more eyes wide open than not and that we're able to have a very clear um very clear documentation that is publicly available to explain this is what you will get with Gemini for Education as opposed to Gemini for the consumer and this is why we're comfortable with these grade levels having access to Gemini for education. Technically, we would never do this. Technically, Gemini for Education is a core service for Google, so we could make it available to all students in K12. That is not our

107plan ever. Um, but it is it does fall under the Ed Law 2D compliance, but we will not ever do that. >> Too many variables. >> Agreed. >> Yeah, >> agreed. Miss man, >> I have no comments. >> Presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, so first of all, I want to thank you for your presentation and more importantly, I want to thank you for your work. Um, and before we get all caught up in what age, what student should be access, what to what, I just wanted to thank you for in particular the business continuity work that you're doing, which is so critical. I mean they I I think people sometimes they put it out of mind how much technology is actually making things work and how much of your job

108it is to just try and be invisible invisibly making the world work all the time and then when suddenly you're seen it's never a good thing. It's like the phones don't work. Um and so I just wanted to note that in the 12 years I've been doing this I see you less and less. I see fewer the phone system is down such and such and such and such because of the proactive work you guys have been doing and it shows in my day-to-day experience that it is changing and I'm sure you have data to support this. I just have my own anecdotal experience that it feels better, it feels more robust, it feels more sustainable, it feels more planned every every year. So I appreciate that and thank you and in particular I thank you

109for the work you're doing to move us to a new student information system which I cannot even imagine what that is like because I know how much that is instrumental to the main business that we do here which is teaching and learning. So all the comment that we got tonight about one small piece is one small piece of this monstrous thing you guys are doing and doing so well and I just wanted to recognize that because I know there will be a lot of conversation um not just tonight but ongoing about this because it is a big topic and as u my board colleague said it's it's new. Um, so you guys know that part of what I do is is advocate for bikes, in particular, ebikes, which you may have noticed are new and

110maybe are drawing some attention lately. Um, so new things draw that out of people. They're concerned about them and it takes a while for that to get settled. So I know that you've been going into this with great thought, but I also recognize that parents are seeing the world around them changing very quickly and they're very concerned about their children, as they well should be. Um, so I don't know that your division report is the time for us to have this whole conversation, but I do think as a district we do need a broader conversation that involves a bigger portion of our community around what is and is not appropriate at what ages. Um, I don't think it's unreasonable for parents to think, huh, are the screen time rules at home stricter than the screen

111time rules at school? And is that good or bad? And what does that mean to me? I think those are reasonable questions particularly for our youngest learners for our um you know 3K 4K kindergarten first and second graders I think there's a reasonable question and it's not really an AI question >> it's a total technology question and so I think that what I would like us to see us do and we can talk about some more tonight if we want but I would love to see the superintendent lead something broader um than just like a board meeting conversation. It really needs to be a much more public conversation and not just a staff task force. Like the community really they want they want you to know what they're concerned about and they want to know

112that they've been heard. Um and the teachers feel that too. And so I don't I mean I I have my own thoughts but I don't know that they're particularly informative especially since my children are well beyond the age of doing what I say. Um but but I do think I do think that we have not had the public conversation enough. And I know Los Angeles was quoted in one of um the letters, they have a total technology blackout. No technology for preK through first graders. Zero. Um that's pretty strong. Um and I think would really um change things a lot and in some ways for good and some ways for bad. I'm in no way saying we hold that up as a model. I'm just saying let's be aware that when we don't have the

113conversation, people tend to react to things. Um, and so I just feel like we need a broader conversation and I'm going to encourage the district to to take a big picture at that. Miss Creature, >> I'd like to thank you for your presentation and just begin just by asking a question more for the benefit of the audience at home in light of one of the uh public comments we had, which is it's my understanding that the state mandates that testing now be done on screen. So from third grade on, students have to do their math and ELA tests electronically. Right. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Not our choice. Okay. Thanks. >> Not your choice. Correct. Um the only exceptions are students with disabilities who have paper assessments in their IEP as a testing accommodation and um

114English language learners where their primary language is not um a language where they would be better served by taking the assessment in their native language than in English. So that is offered a paperbased assessment for um those students is offered in math and science not ELA of course because it's an ELA test. And then as I mentioned earlier the NIS slot transitioning to WEDA for English language learners is meant to be a first grade through 12th grade online assessment. And I will just say for many many many years alternate assessment students have taken online assessments well before 3 through8 transition to paperbased. So it's a it's a we're caught between a rock and a hard place right now. >> Thanks. That that's really helpful to understand because it it does set the framework of of

115course at least at the third grade level we have to have students work on screens and obviously the first time a student sees a screen in a keyboard should not be the day of their state exams right and you know I'm going to echo a lot of what my colleagues have said because I feel like we're at that technological crossroads here where we've got some horse we've got some horses and we've got some horseless carriages and we're still making that transition And a lot of us who grew up in a different era are really not accustomed to seeing these things and we don't quite understand how they work and they're a little bit scary. And your department does so much of the work that allows us all to function both in our technology just to

116run this meeting in the technology for students to do this school work in the technology that allows allows our staff to do their work. And it it is kind of a lot like motor vehicles where uh they really have been a huge resource. They're a necessary part of our lives. We really value them. Like we're really enormously glad that we're able to bus our students and that we're going to be able to bust more students next year. It's overall a really good thing. And yet cars have an enormous negative impact on the environment. Cars kill people. and we don't let 5-year-olds drive them. So there's definitely an and nor should we. So there's sort of a lot of an there's a lot of appropriate analogies to the use of technology when even when it's a

117good thing, it's not necessarily a good thing for children to use. And I heard the comments from from the members of the public about YouTube or this site or that site. And yet, in my experience, even the most generic and positive use of Chromebooks in the classroom, no matter how well blocked they are, just seems to lead to less engagement just because you just open up a Google Doc, share it with your friends, and all of a sudden you've got the same chat room you had on your that you that you don't have to use your phone for anymore. It's a lot easier to disengage uh when you have a screen in front of you. And I think it creates an enormous problem for a lot of students who aren't automatically engaged. And I think

118it may be one of the reasons if we haven't seen the results from the phone ban that we wanted. Part of it could be that students still have those screens that they can kind of disassociate and move to. So I'm going to save my next comments on AI for the next round. But thank you very much for coming in and sharing with us, >> Miss Wilson. >> Thank you for your presentation. It was beautifully comprehensive. Um, often I think of presentations that I bookmark in my mind that, you know, the public should come back to and this is one. Um, I appreciate, you know, laying out the total infrastructure landscape that we're a part of. Even um, when people externally to our community, if they want to communicate with us, they indeed send us an

119email. So indeed we have this sort of um extensive web of that we're totally connected through um as far as what you've laid out as far as how we have systematically looked at you know a there's a new landscape of AI increasing use of technology whether attemp development but there's also a systemic issue of disproportionality or disparities that people have with um access to digital tools and technology and whether our students are um I would say prepared or introduced at the same levels as other students things of that nature. So um not really formulating opinion just waiting for more data and of course allowing us to um evolve in this new ecosystem. >> Thank you. >> Most of what I wanted to say has already been said. Great presentation. Um, you know, when when I

120reflect back, I used to use graph paper before Excel came and Excel made lives easy. Um, today you go to uh Toys R Us or Target and you have hooked on phonics and all these VTEC uh systems and you know these toys are talking to you and whatnot. So what we do in the school versus what we in the in the home even though there I think there's more controls in the schools uh there's more protection in the school what you buy in the consumer market there probably isn't much till a lawsuit comes along and then somebody kashes something and whatnot um so I'm confident that you guys are looking into things before putting it into the classrooms. Um >> one thing I I noticed in the video was um I forget which um tool

121they were using uh where they asking a question and then the AI bot is actually helping guide them through the answers. >> Yes. >> The question I really had was uh in terms of I mean AI is has to be trained right so are these questions trained data sets >> or is it going out there and looking for things which mean there's still that question mark which we all have in our lives as to So that particular tool is snorkel and um the students are accessing questions that have been uploaded by the teachers or that are in the library in snorkel that they have that they created or have access to. So it's it's only literally based on district curriculum. The um the feedback that students are receiving is based on the rubric that the

122teacher has to input or ask Snorkel to create. Um, so it's not automatically choosing what to do or or how to give feedback, but it is is all based on how the teacher has set it up before the students even access it. I >> I think this is where the disconnect is, right? Because when you go to chat GPT or whatever, it's just going out there and grabbing the answers and presenting them to you where now it's like unless there was a human involved to curate those answers, you could be going down the wrong rabbit hole. Uh, and I think this is where communication becomes very important. Yes. And it reminds me of the time when we did great reconfiguration for example this is going to impact a lot of people regardless right. So as

123long as we have a plan of communicating with the audience, the parents, this other stakeholders, other partners, the I think people will have their their fears addressed >> and and some of these concerns may become oh yeah, I think they've already thought about it and they have a plan to address it and so that concern will go away and there might be more support and and we may also learn something from them that you know we we didn't think about it in that perspective and that might change the way we want to do things. So I think you know July is when you want to roll out things and stuff and so really for the next school year um in in the summer maybe we can have some work um community uh facing uh >>

124system I wholeheartedly agree which is why I >> and to the point of like okay it's time to definitely create an FAQ at the bare minimum right at the bare minimum but I want parent input on what do you want to know and how can we best organize that information for you. Um, so I do see that as eventually becoming something as that's developed that's published to our website. I' I've I've said before to the communications department, I'm like, I really want to create an AI dedicated website or maybe an edtech dedicated website to really just help kind of provide information on what we have, how it's it's contained and protected, and and just the tools that we offer our students. And if we need to eventually add in there, you know, like what is

125recommended, what we as a district recommend for use at certain grade levels, that makes sense to do as well. Um, so that is definitely on my list of things for the summer and to to create ways or opportunities for parents to engage and come in and learn about the tools that we offer for students so that they can um be better informed and ask their ask their questions as well. >> Thank you. Second round. Um, I will say specifically when it comes to terms with technology, especially with the Chromebooks, um, when it comes to the high schoolers, um, I would say a decent amount of high schoolers are quite techsavvy. So, when it comes to managing what goes on with the Chromebooks, there is certain information specifically with the high schoolers, it will be hard

126to kind of contain. So it is a double-edged sword because if certain high schoolers are techsavvy and they want to bypass certain things they are going to and is quite difficult to say like oh >> we can limit that because especially with high schoolers >> and them being quite techsavvy they can bypass that and if they learn how to bypass that they're going to share that among the other high schoolers and then that's just going to go on and on. So yeah. >> Oh yeah go ahead John. Yeah, >> sorry. >> Thank you for that feedback. We also have tools in place. Um, so our content filter which which monitors and allows and blocks traffic uh also has tools for the teaching staff. Um, it is based on the roster. The teachers can pull up

127the screens of all of the students in their class. They can see what they're on. They can also lock it down so they can only access certain sites that only deal with um with that lesson for that day if they so choose. So we do have pro protection guardrails in place for that as well for all of our our educators. >> And then if someone brings a website to your attention. >> Yes. And then as as uh sites are identified, as you mentioned, students have creative ways of trying to get out uh to identify game sites or or other sites. As soon as they are brought to our attention, if they are allowed, uh we ask that the staff bring that to their building administration who contacts us and we then work on blocking those

128sites. Okay, Michelle Maneri. >> So, I know we kind of kind of got sucked into the AI conversation, but I also want to recognize that you guys prevent a lot of other malware and viruses and all kinds of things from penetrating our internal systems. And um I don't know if I saw numbers on that, but I'm sure they're astronomically high. So, um, also kind of touching on member Savage's point about when things are good, they're quiet and, you know, people don't realize the complexity of all of the things that you do. So it's like I do hear from my seventh grader who goes to North Aldi about like oh we found another website today and this and that and like obviously a part of it has to be like all right Sam well are you

129being responsible are you like engaging in you know stupid behavior simply put to put it you know that way um also I mean it's interesting because it just brings to mind like good hackers, right? So like obviously there's hackers who do things for bad and then there are hackers who are in the other side like combating the bad hackers doing like good hacking and like trying to find the holes before the other bad guys find the holes and stuff like that. And like I just wonder if we could do something similar where it's like there's a radio button or some kind of little application where it's like we allow our students to say like report like report a website where it's like hey this is not good you know hey um there has to be

130obviously some kind of goodies there. It can't be cash. can't be like um but like maybe it's something to the Falcon Market or something. I don't know. >> Mean as a reward. >> Yeah. >> Oh, >> like I reported 20 websites that weren't good and like we're like we could sneak through and it's just a thought. I have a lot of thoughts. Not all of them are >> I appreciate it though. I appreciate >> Miss Savage. I just wanted to ask a little bit more about the blocking of sites because I'm assuming that um you know essentially school districts have quite similar decision making about what sites they want children to see and which kind which ones they don't. So is there some sort of like crowdsourcing of this from districts across this country because

131we can't be the only one who's dealing with games.io. So how does that part of it work? >> So our product does specify does uh concentrate solely on educational institutions. Um each of the sites are pro um categorized. So based on the category they are either allowed or blocked. Um for some reason for a teacher if they're doing a lesson on spiders.com that was flagged as blocked or flagged um for for whatever reason tarantula concerns. Um then we have to go in and allow that site. Um, so it is based on categorize categor categor categor. Um, and they will update over time. So as folks report it as hey no this is this is >> and I just want to because I think the way it was presented before was sort of like we wait

132for a kid to tell us and this you know that a teacher tells us that the site is wrong. But it's this is a database that evolves over time from >> correct >> all many majillions of sources and it's a third party tool and it should not be happening a lot. >> Correct. that our students are finding sites that are not already identified. >> Correct. >> Okay. Because I do hear it more often than I would think where I hear from a parent, oh well, the student had their Chromebook and they could get to the thing um that I didn't think they should. And I just I just don't have a sense of how robust that database is and whether it's something we need to like tweak like is there a is there a dial

133and we need to make it more. So we do we do have cadence calls with our different vendor providers. Um that is something that we can definitely bring up with them. Um and then we can also block at certain levels for example. So we can concentrate on hey if we're going to block for K5 but this this site should and could be allowed for 6 through 12 or this should this site should only be allowed for 12th graders. We have that ability as well but we can definitely add that to our cadence call. I I'm just I it's I think it's a very difficult conversation and I think it it gets very quickly into some of the culture work conversations too and I'd want to be real careful about what we block and how we

134decide what we do and do not block. I'm just thinking about um some communities might for example want to block sites that our community actually would encourage our kids to to be able to access correct factual information about. So I just I'm realizing how how fraught this whole topic can get how quickly. So anyway, >> Miss Grchie, >> uh yes, I also have some concerns about that because you know even I think when my child was doing like I forget whether it was AP gov or AP US history, but you start saying I want to research more about terrorism in 911 and all of a sudden things start happening and I want you know I want somebody taking AP lit to be able to research Charles Dickens without without it being like you can't you

135you can't type that word. So I did have some questions getting to the AI which is I do see that you have the resources here but I would like to know more about the evidence-based research that you've used in integrating AI into the classroom because I you you have put a lot of emphasis on that the use of AI in the classrooms is safe and secure and is within the bounds of what's legal but I haven't heard as much about the evidence based case based strategies and the research related to how AI works with students cognitively and I'd be curious about things like cognitive you know cognitive load and whatnot curious about how you work with the curriculum department to evaluate where it's appropriate to use AI also curious to learn um whether you work

136with the equity team uh because of the known issues with bias in AI to make sure that the AI tools we shoes uh do not have you do not have that type of bias or that we're working to mitigate that. >> Sure. I'll speak to some of the research based um sides of this if you'd like. Um in terms of our alignment, you saw that it's very intentional, it's very purposeful, and we really try to lean into research that exists on things such as um providing timely feedback, right? Right. So you you mentioned snorkel before and you saw the feedback come up and the students are getting in the- moment feedback and they can go back and adjust their answer and make it even better. Right. And research shows that the closer the feedback comes

137to the action that precipitated it, the more valuable it is. So it's things like that that we lean into when we're talking about use integrating AI into the classroom. Um, as far as edtech in general, uh, we look at things like, um, cognitive engagement or that when students are more engaged, they do better, right? There's there's evidence that that leads to increased achievement. So, engaging with maybe a chatbot about something where you're getting your students, and when we say chat bots here, when we talk about magic school, I just want to be clear, uh, we are talking about a not a companion chatbot. There's no, it will not become your friend. There are warning screens on it because they're sensitive to the conversation as well. And we have cadence calls with them and there's you

138are chatting with an AI, you know, like it's there. It reminds you I forget how many conversations it chats down interactions, it'll remind you. It shuts the thread down after a number of conversations as well. Um, but when we hear teachers talking about how their the students are peing their own interest, right, where there was a lesson on World War I and I think you saw the the tanks and the planes from the trench warfare in VR. And then after that, we had a um a chatbot where they could chat with different soldiers, right? AI chats. It's we're not tricking students. they're having an interaction with an AI and they're getting to learn about what it might have been like to be in the trench or be an African-American soldier at the time and really

139explore the topic and then the teacher is able to go deeper with the actual lesson or I think of uh Mr. McDall's example last year with one of our teachers in um the an ENL teacher and how providing some accessibility with a bot that was able to translate, right? And we work within the guidelines of our district's translation, but it was able to do some translating. So then that teacher was able to go deeper with the students because their starting point was lifted, right? So these are some of the values and and again tying that back to the engagement piece, right? that student is engaging now much differently than he may have or he or she may have had they not had that experience. So these are again those are examples with magic school and

140snorkel specifically because I know they were both mentioned and I want to acknowledge that. Do you have any? >> Yeah, I was just going to Terrence, do you want to speak? I was just going to add to some of what Jeremy said. Are you sure? Okay. Um I just want to make sure that everyone understands that even inside of Magic School when a student engages with a a chatbot inside of Magic Student, that teacher has also already created the content for that. It's not going out and grabbing information. It is what the teacher has fed that chatbot in order to have the student engage in the curriculum and go deeper into that. >> And I would just like to add on to that that the teacher has full visibility into every interaction with that chatbot

141that the student has. So you have all of it. It will send it'll flag anything that it deems inappropriate and its guard rails are very very uh tight. So had they type terrorism or something it would have flagged it to the teacher. Anything that looks like self harm would also get an email to the teacher to to let you know immediately you need to address this. So >> thank you. So to kind of follow up and clarify because that wouldn't be the case even with the educational v version of Gemini those types of guardrails wouldn't be there. It looked like the presentation said there's a plan to roll out student access to Gemini for secondary in this winter, but then you said that's a possibility and >> tentative >> a tentative thing. Okay. >> We

142all have to be ready and comfortable for that and that's why we're tight. We're testing it very extensively right now. What how does it behave uh with a variety of prompts, good, bad, the ugly versus the consumer version of Gemini? If I was a if I was a parent, how would I know if my student was using AI in the classroom? And if I was a student, let's say if I was a parent, let's say, of an elementary or middle school student who didn't really want them to have access to the generative AI, is there a way to opt out? >> Like a specific Gemini or >> generative generative AI in general, if I was like a parent of a 10-year-old, would I know if my child had access to that? And how would I

143be able to op them out? there isn't they don't have access to anything except for what is provided in magic school or snorkel. So um the only opt out would be just talking with the teacher and having students utilize uh engage in their lessons in another way. >> Do we send parents at the beginning of the year info about Magic School and Snorkel or would they have to go out and look for it? Well, right now they are learning about it the way that they're learning about, which is hearing about it from their students and teachers and things, which is why this summer the idea is to have a more concerted effort on how to have that communication be standardized and consistent. >> Thank you so much for explaining that. >> You're welcome, >> Miss

144Wilson. I lost my train of thought. Uh I did have a question about the student management system though, Miss Wolf. Uh the uh I mean it's great that we're going to integrate all these different channels into one system. So you don't have 15 different apps on your phone. Uh though again I mean Google owns a lot of my all of the apps on my phone and yet there's all these different buttons you know whether it's home or this or that. So remains to be seen. Uh is the robocalls going to be tied into it too? Because that is attendance, right? And and attendance depending, you know, you could get a call in the middle of the day saying your child has not been in school, which doesn't do >> doesn't help me much if I

145didn't know that my child didn't go to school and they were supposed to be there at 8 8:00 or 8:30. Learning about it at 2:00 didn't really help me, right? And so so there's that slight disengagement that happens and sometimes you know the kid is in school you just dropped them so why am I getting these calls so maybe some of those are uh also addressable. >> Yep. So um for this year we'll still have school messenger. Uh this system can does have the capability if we choose to go with that for voice and text. It does have builtin email and it's integrated into attendance. So, um, right now since you kind of have that disconnected integration, like this will be in the moment and there's also, um, scanning embedded. So, as soon as they

146scan into the building, um, you know, if they're in the school and they went to the library or the nurse or whatever, like you can see that in real time. So, that's definitely a win of being just more in the moment. >> And would there be a portal where the parent can go in and say that my child's not going to be there, blah blah blah. is some sort of so you're not waiting on someone to pick up the phone. >> Correct. Correct. Yeah. >> I lost my chain of thought about the other question but this one I remember round three. >> Miss Brennan >> sorry just to be quick one thing. Um, from what I've seen the high schools specifically when it comes to technology and the sites that are allowed on the Chromebook,

147I do know that how when specifically the high schoolers are looking for those sites, um, they're looking for sites where they can, I guess, play games and so on. A lot of those sites aren't really safe because I've visibly seen certain sites being blocked even though they're used for harmless games, but they're not necessarily safe and they may have some kind of malware with them. uh just some consideration maybe the district could have a small set of providance games that how the students would be allowed to play so they wouldn't necessarily be out looking for those sites because the reason that how they do go out looking for them is especially later in the year when you don't have anything to do in class the curriculum is done especially for APs when the exam is

148done not really that much teaching that's going on or if you're a student who's finished all of their homework has finished their assignment early you're just sitting in class staring at a screen there's not really much that you can do. Having that small providance of games may be convenient and may stop students from going online and searching for sites and games that aren't really safe and so on. That's just a thought. >> I was just going to say real quick if you um the technology department always asks for examples of games, right? Names or whatever the situation may be. Um, so if you happen to know of specific examples that you see students use all the time or go to all the time that and emailing the technology technology department would be very helpful. And

149I say that because hunting and pecking for games is an impossible task on our side of of the business. Um, however, there are categories that can be blocked, right? So, we could block generative AI, which means it doesn't matter what the site is, if it's categorized out in the world as generative AI, it would be blocked automatically. So, depending on some of those examples that you have, they may fall into a category that would be easily blocked and it would block tons of sites as opposed to just this one here and this one there. And I appreciate the feedback of of good sites um as well because like anything else on the internet, these items pop up all of the time. You know, we we call it whack-a-ole. You take down four and three more

150pop up. Um so, so we really do our best to try to stay on top of it. Um but they are exponentially out there. >> Many. So, um this just unlocked a memory um from second grade actually where we had a computer lab and I would go to the computer lab before school started so I could play celebrity death match. I'm being dead serious. And and when the computer lab uh teacher, I guess administrator, whoever it was, so like found out like I was going and finding Mortal Kombat codes and like it ended very quickly. They couldn't put controls on it, but like my free time before school at the computer lab ended. And it's just I'm just saying that because this is not new. This is not new. If somebody back in the 50s

151had comic books inside their textbook, you know, so like we're doing our best. We understand the problems. And this is the main thing that we need to kind of relay to our the general public is that like we're not oblivious to these things. That's that's really important. Um, side note, just in terms of like the data that you guys get about what sites the students are on, like is that ever aggregated then like thrown into a pivot table? And then like some of the you know you know ones that are lower on the poll like just do some auditing of you know what I'm saying? >> So so we do also the the content filter console also has has dashboards to show site usage. Um, but as you can expect, there's there's millions and millions

152and millions of records um from from days. Uh, our content filter logs actually only go back three months because of the amount of web traffic, especially for a district our size. I was also going to mention uh learn platform, which is where we sort of curate our library of approved resources. There's also a tool in there where we can sort of rank the highest usage of things that we haven't reviewed and we try to look at that, but like I said, it's thousands and thousands on the list. So, we try to grab, you know, the biggest usage and try to kind of shut that down when we find out about it. Just cur last thought. Um this is just kind of operationally. Would it be possible to like somebody said in their public uh comment

153that you know only allow the websites that we will allow and then somebody wants to go to a different one they have to seek permission to go to a different one. >> Do you see what I'm saying? So like there's 100 websites that you're allowed to go on to. If you want it to be 101, you have to send a request. So, and that's where the power of the the tool for classroom management is is so spec is is so um amazing is because it does allow teachers for their classes to lock down only what they want their students to to be able to access while also giving students the freedom during study halls or free periods to be able to go out to other appropriate sites. So, but we leave that power with the

154teacher essentially. >> That is that is correct. That is correct. I mean, just with the sheer amount of of sites out on the internet. >> Very good. >> Thank you. It's part of academic freedom, too. >> Mitch, >> I just wanted to ask a couple more questions about the transition to um I forgot the name of it already. The new >> infinite campus. Yes. School tool. It's gone. >> Be gone. go the way of school news notifier back in the day. Um, so I see you've got a really great phase out phase phase communication plan. You've put a lot of thought into it. And this month there's going to be an initial parent letter, but it sounds like that parent letter is going to be more like a hey, this change is coming. Everybody be

155aware this is coming kind of letter. And then the next letter is going to be like, hey, we told you that change was coming. Here's your password or here's your login credentials or whatever it is that you're going to send there. Um, is it do you plan to do some sort of a virtual meeting opportunity for families to ask questions about why are you making this change and I just got comfortable with school with school messenger or whatever? What are we on now? School school and now I don't want to learn a new thing. Why are you making me do this? Some sort of like opportunity for some in-person conversation about the why and what they're going to gain from it. >> Um, so we certainly can in the fall. Um, I spent some time

156going to the different secondary PTO meetings and trying to engage with them and asking them. We we I made presentations that they could share out with their um um community in the school. Um um you know, there wasn't a whole lot of participation back, but the main feedback really was that they said, "We don't really care so much what it is. We just want less things to log into and figure out where to go." And so um obviously at the beginning of the year as we have you know introduction to school and openhouse and all of that we definitely plan to be there so that we can engage with parents make sure they have a parent portal make sure they know how to use it. Um but yeah I had gone and showed them the

157side by side of school tool versus infinite campus versus Aspen was the other one we were kind of looking at at the time. >> Okay I understand. I mean, I think that one of the things that's always frustrating is that um just like we represent people, but people don't always listen to board meetings, PTO's represent people, but people don't always go to the meetings or get the information they're from. Um so, so it was probably a fairly narrow set of folks who were in those rooms. Um and while it is not true, everyone who was not in the room is going to say, "I didn't know this was coming and nobody gave me a chance to ask any questions." So, if you just offer them the chance, hey, we're going to have this one virtual

158meeting for the whole district. Um, and maybe nobody comes, but at least you've given the opportunity for people to ask questions and it it gives people a place to put that energy. And to your point, I think um in in in conjunction with the letter that can that will be mailed home, we can also um either look at what Infinite Campus has in in their database or knowledge base for parent videos, but we can also create our own and post it to YouTube or our website and say, you know, here's what's going on. Here's the why. Here's when you will have opportunities to learn more about it or when we're going to be communicating further about it. and we can kind of keep a running thing going on our website about Infinite Campus and that

159transition. >> I think that sounds great. I mean, I think one of the things that I think we've all learned unfortunately more times than we care to admit is that when there's an absence of information, people t people believe that means it's information that there's absence. So, if you don't say, "Here is why we did this and here's where you can get more information," they're going to say, "They didn't put any thought into this." Right? >> Um, and None of that is true, but that's just the way things happen quickly around here. So, I think the uh you know, a personal video from you or you or you guys talking about why this change is coming and what you're hoping to gain out of it, short, you know, social media friendly kind of things that

160people can pick up quick. I think it would really go a long way to reducing people's concerns. >> Thank you for the suggestion. Thank you, Miss >> Man. Sorry I skipped you last. >> I have no questions. Thanks, Miss Gr. No, that that's all for me. Thank you, >> Miss Wilson. >> Just to build on what our student board rep um Cleo was speaking about. Um I'm curious if games and I don't know how they all back channel as to who owns them and who designed them, but I do feel like there are some games that are not as detrimental or um for lack of a better term brain rot like. So um I think of soduku or even words with friends and things of that nature but again I don't know who owns these

161games and then it also sparked the idea for me if what if we designed something as like what if our students designed the game also >> our primary responsibility no matter what is to protect student data. So we don't our goal is to make sure at the very le least is that students cannot sign in. >> They may be able to play whatever's on the screen but they cannot sign in. So that is our first and foremost primary responsibility. >> I remember what I was going to ask. Uh it was related to the same topic actually uh more about digital literacy. Um because just last this past week I remember I flagged an email and sent it to probably one of you who was saying that this could be fishing. Uh and it looks so

162real. It was sort of and and this the same thing I see at my other job too, right? So um but then we go through these training periods where we learn about these things and there's people always created to come with new ways to fool you, >> right? I was at a APA caucus uh summit uh last month uh where there was this individual Ron Williams who's developing a scam alert software because his father got one of these scam things. The moment you push a button you're done start to happen >> and so now now that our kids have access to electronic devices it's important for us to teach them the right way to protect themselves. I know you guys are the guardians protecting from the outside but 95% of the times it's us shooting

163ourselves on our own you know in our own feet right so u are are we doing more in terms of digital literacy and and trying to educate not just the the students but also resources which I'm guessing some of the FAQs might help the adults at the homes right where these kids might bring those tools or whatnot and uh creates vulnerable situations. >> John, do you want to talk about the adults? I mean, I all I can say from the student perspective is that there are uh New York State standards associated with with that learning from K12 and um that falls on the instructional side of the house. But I do know that our goal, you read it in our technology plan, is also to have better collaboration, more consistent collaboration with the office of

164curriculum and instruction and professional development to make sure that we're assisting with that process of digital literacy, helping to create the digital literacy um spectrum and and continuum inside the district for the students. Um do you want to talk about staff >> and just to dubtail what Dr. Prespatino was also saying is we we also know that cyber security is a heavily um targeted job market now as well. Um so that's something that the district should be thinking about as well. As far as staff members are concerned, it only takes one individual as as we all all know. Um real life examples, we've had um individuals buy $3,000 worth of gift cards because the principal asked them to. Um, so these these happen almost daily. I mean, April said to me within the last couple

165days, "Wow, we we've we're continuing to get a lot this week." And it's it is something that it it would be a full-time job for someone to be able to review all of these these logs. Um, so for the staff, we do the annual training at the beginning of the year. We try to do um multiple things like cyber security week, which is always in October to have a campaign around that. Um, when we see that folks have navigated out to a fishing site or have enter potentially entered their credentials, uh, because we can see that they've navigated to the site, uh, we automatically disable their account, force them to re change, uh, change their password and we've gone as far as, uh, starting to set up targeted training groups to say, you've now failed

166either a simulated fishing attack or a real fishing attack. We need you to go out and watch this two-minute long video. Um, and it's something that we haven't talked about in in the last couple of years. Um, but we we all know that we have had a cyber event within the district. So, those are those are the things that keep me up at night of let's working 170 hours in 14 days was not fun, but let's let's continue put all of the safeguards in place that we can. And that requires staff uh education as well. We had a tech committee meeting yesterday and when it one individual shared a story personal story of herself where um she was compromised. >> It doesn't >> in a previous in a previous district not here >> but it

167doesn't hit home until there is that personal impact. >> So that is the thing that we are trying to to grow on and improve on. I mean, maybe you guys do it, but one thing I I don't remember seeing is that if I report something and if it was truly a fishing thing, I don't remember getting a feedback saying, "Yes, thank you for identifying that or that message going out to everybody else saying, "Hey, you know, if you see this, that's a fishing thing. It's already been deleted from the server, so you shouldn't get it." But that sort of reinforces that thinking. >> Absolutely. And more more to come on that. So, so we are going to be moving to a new uh email filtering system which is behind the scenes. Um, that new product

168actually also allows us to send an alert to users to say this is a fishing attack. So whether you reported it or not, you're getting the alert that this is fishing, stay away from it. >> Great. Thank you. But I will say the uh number of individuals proactively reporting fishing has increased dramatically. So there is an increased awareness about being more critical of what your email is. Um, and at the same time, because John and Bobby look at those when a when a report is made, they look at them so very quickly that often uh people who have that email in their inbox don't even know that it was ever there because they remove them as quickly as they possibly can. So, but I'm really excited about this new product because I think it's going

169to um help make their lives a whole lot easier because it is it's a better product than what we currently use. I mean there are so many people who still don't know the difference between reply and reply all right so I mean and that is not even about fishing or scams but so a mistake like that it's we're all human we all make mistakes and it just takes that one mistake to compromise the system so thank you for what you guys do >> any question any other questions folks >> thank you so much >> thank you all we appreciate Moving on. Discussion on the fund balance transfer. Mr. Caris Good evening. So, it's to me I was actually reminiscing today how fast the time has flown by and I sat here and I was like,

170"Hey, budget season's just about to start." Well, the budget season already flew by and we're at the end of the school year and we're at the point of um talking about where we are with our fund balance and some transfers that I'm asking to make uh before the end of the school year so we could be within our 4% unappropriate uh fund balance threshold. Um, so here's a slide that shows our budget versus the estimated actual expenses in the main categories of our instructional services, our employee benefits and debt obligations, our operations, maintenance and transportation, and our central administration and technology support. You can see where we are just about where we budgeted from and where our actual expenses are at this point. So you see that there is a surplus right now or estimated

171surplus of $16.5 million and I want to remind that we used 12.1 million out of our reserves from last year. So basically we're about 4.4 million on the plus side right now as an estimate. So here are the main reserves that we used money from from last year or that we generated for our capital project. Reserves are just one of them. Um because there was a negative impact from the use that we have in the current year. Excuse me, that was a hiccup. Um so you can see where our balances are at this point. So, it is healthy. It went from 70 million to 60 million. The main decrease was the capital project reserve for the $5 million capital project that we have going on and money that was set aside for the additional scope

172or um cost in the high school project. So, like I said, we uh used or allocated not used, we allocated $12.1 million out of our reserves from last year into this year's budget. So, I'm asking the board to put the money back into those reserves out of that $16 million of surplus out of this year's budget. So, you can see uh I'm asking for a $ 1.5 million move back into the workers comp reserve, a 2.75 million move back into the unemployment insurance reserve, a $4 million for our employee retirement reserves. That's both ERS and TRS. So, the employee benefit or I'm sorry, employee um retirement system and our teachers retirement system and uh just over $3.8 million for employee benefit and liability reserve. So they'll still have about $4 million. We do have more

173uh expenses incurring. So this is my best guess. So, whatever is left over, I was asked there's a little footnote at the bottom of the resolution that it would go into the capital project reserve for upcoming um projects. And here is the resolution. Do we need to act on it tonight? >> Any questions, folks? So many of them. >> So I'm glad to see that we are proactive in replenishing uh the reserves. Do you have I mean of course you came up with these figures so I think I'm sure you're confident in them but um how will this affect operationally next year? Are we going to have to do any like program cuts or any >> We're not going to >> No. So, this has nothing to do with any So, when I build the

174budget, we have to have a cushion in it because there are unexpected costs for the districts. Um, so if a student goes to a high cost special needs program that isn't expected midyear, we have to have the the money set aside to be able to pay for it. We are self-funded for health insurance. That's one of our biggest costs. Um, so that means anytime there's a big incident in health insurance, we pay for out of pocket. So I know we set aside about $50 million, but a open heart surgery essentially is like a million dollars. So that that's how fast the money can go. and we can't go over our expense budget that we put in front of the public to vote on. So, you have to have some sort of cushion in there so

175that you don't ever go over that amount. So, essentially using our savings account to help make that cushion. You never want to really go into it because you never want to start using your savings account. So, that's essentially that $12 million that is going back and forth. >> So, that's where that's coming from. So, we're putting 12 million from into the reserve from savings that we've got. >> Well, it was the savings put into the general fund going back into the savings just so that we had that little bit of a cushion for any unexpected costs. >> I think I'm understand. >> I mean, you budgeted 10 bucks, but you only spent $850. So, that $150 you're putting back. >> Got it. >> Thank you, >> Miss Man. I completely understand this. We're on I'm

176on the finance committee. So, >> so I do have I have one technical question about that and then I also have one clarifying question that I asked you earlier and I wanted to make sure I shared with everyone else. So, my technical question is when we budget to use reserve funds to balance the budget as we do every year. Um, do we physically remove those funds from the reserve accounts and then physically put them back or is that they're just we just know that that that they're there and we could pull them if we needed to. >> So, we do make the journal entry in our accounting just to allocate it. This is where we had that discussion before where our accounts are. So, I'm used to having the buckets outside of this in our

177bank for each reserve. So, I would do that going forward. We don't have that here, but I'd like to do that going forward so that our bank uh reconciliations are a little bit more clear and you would see that it actually was taken out of that savings account to put into our general fund and vice versa. So, you'd be able to see that motion back and forth. >> I understand. I didn't understand that previously, but I do understand that now. And that thing that he just said was because I asked about the treasurer's report and why when I look at the treasurer's report I don't see the same categories as the reserve funds and he and what Joe just said was what he told me a couple of weeks ago was in some districts where

178he's worked they physically have each reserve in its own account so it's nice and clean and you can see the amount and it all ties but here over the years it has not been done that way. It's done as more of a bookkeeping exercise. how much money is in each in each account. So, we're still completely compliant with the law. It just doesn't it doesn't you can't look at the number on the statement and make it match. Do I have that right? >> 100%. >> Okay. And then my the other thing that I asked about today that I wanted to make sure all my board colleagues followed is that the commissioner says we can have 4% of operating expenses. That's not this money. >> No, >> we also have that money >> because 4% of

179our budget, our budget is like $350 million round numbers. So 4 percent is like a lot of money, right? It's way more than $4 million, right? So it's like $13 million. That money is our unallocated fund balance and that money also exists. So we're not in danger of bouncing checks. Um if if that was some of the question, like if we put these money in reserve, are we in danger of bouncing checks? The answer is no because we still have the 4% of unallocated fund balance that is sitting in in reserve to be sure that we have um some cash flow. And mind you that communities, cities and towns and villages usually run like 20% une unallocated fund balance. This is a very unique thing being a school district. Imagine if you were only allowed

180to have in your savings account 4% of your annual salary. you probably wouldn't feel real good because when the f when the um furnace dies >> bills, >> you're in trouble. Well, right. But, you know, we we it's nicer to have more than 4% of your annual income in your savings account so that if something goes wrong with your furnace or someone needs open heart surgery, um you can pay for it. So, um anyway, I wanted to make sure everybody else understood that because I did not the first time I looked at these slides. >> Okay, Miss Crazy. No, I think I think that the that your presentation and Miss Savage's questions adequately answered my qu adequately answered what I was thinking which was oh so we are going to like replenish the capital reserve

181funds and sounds like we are and it sounds like we're going to maintain the unallocated reserves that we can so it's good news. Thanks >> miss Wilson. >> Yeah, no questions. Uh I I like the fact that on your slide you actually specified what each of those reserves do. That helps. So having some sort of those FAQs on your website too might be good for the general public, right? So that when it doesn't have to be budget season and when you or or when you get that capital um newsletter saying oh these these numbers are what is the what are they doing this for? It's sort of it's there. It's constant reminder that you know this is how money is used. Um being more transparent. So it's it's educating the the people who don't regularly

182look at numbers till the bill comes. But otherwise, a great presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you. And that's a good idea with the reserves. It's very specific on what it can be used for. >> So it's not like it's um a free-for-all, >> right? You can't rob PayPal. >> No. >> So thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Okay. Any board committee reports? I took the liberty of giving the uh policy committee report when you were out of the room before and I had the mic so we're good. Thanks. >> And um code of conduct should be coming soon, right? >> Yes, we will be discussing code of conduct at the June meet at the June policy committee meeting which is going to be next Wednesday. So hopefully we'll get the the relatively minor changes that

183we agreed to soon so that we can have time to look them over before the meeting on Wednesday. It's pretty much just that the uh whatever whatever changes may be propo proposed to student use of electronic devices and I don't remember exactly what else is on the agenda for June. I think there's at least one or two other policies on there but it'll it'll be this Wednesday. >> Okay. Facilities. >> So facilities did not meet. Um I did have a kind of overview with um Mr. Carris and essentially we are still tracking deficiencies. We've escalated some of them um because we've gone on too long um in kind of the negotiation table. Um, that said, there is most likely going to be a a facilities committee on the 16th of June. That's the next one.

184Um, otherwise, no other updates. >> Audit Mike, >> I'm sorry it's late. Um, I was just confirming when um, our audit committee was meeting next, and it's going to be in August. So, um, we finished out what we needed to do with our, um, uh, recent audit presentation and, um, just right before the start of the school year. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Commenations or anything else? None. Okay. Any other business items? Okay. If not, may I have a motion to reenter executive session >> for the purpose of discussing personnel matters? >> Personal matters. Okay, Miss Cree, Miss Wilson, all in favor. Okay. Thank you. I don't think we'll be coming back to public session. So, good night everybody.