001Sorry. My brain doesn't Okay. >> Good evening. My name is Sha Chhatur. 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, uh, Carmen Sapnas. Um member Elmanavi, member man, uh member creche and myself um um vice president um Wilson and members Savage aren't with us today. Uh we also have superintendent and members of the cabinet joining us. Uh this meeting is being livereamed and the instructions to view the meeting as well as a link to the agenda including all the documents we'll discuss are available at albschools.org and there's member Wolfkang. Um, this is a good time for me to note that if you're here tonight to speak in public comment, you should sign up
002with Miss Timmons, our board clerk, here to my right. Uh, with that introduction, I invite you to or those of you who choose to join us as we stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands nation. In addition to the pledge of allegiance, we always focus our meeting by restating the mission of the city school district of Albany, which is to work in partnership with our diverse community to engage every learner in a robust educational program designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for success. Superintendent Hawkriter, do you have a report for us? >> I do. And I believe we're going to begin with our student board rep. >> Thank you very much. Um, as mentioned in our last
003meeting, uh, the student government has been continuing to work on our Albany High School Falcon Pass. As you know, we're striving to create a positive incentive for students who continue to stand out for exemplary attendance, notable GPA, and positive behavioral records. Falcons that continue to show up to school and strive to do their best in their school environment are incredibly appreciated. Uh, and we hope to be able to recognize this greatness with a variety of benefits. Some of which including headphone privileges during free periods, though not periods impeding on teacher instruction, and access to our new courtyard during free periods, which is a good incentive for students to maintain exemplary grades, attendance, and behavior until the springtime, as we'll be seeing warmer weather. We have also been working on a student voice survey in which
004students are clarifying what makes Alb High School a great place to exist on a day-to-day basis. Alb High School sees a variety of remarkable events throughout the school year. Many students continue to take part of and enjoy each and every one. We're hoping to find a deeper understanding of what students truly love about set events and what else they'd like to see at these events and possible events they'd like to see in the future. Taking that feedback to continue to produce an engaging school year for each and every Falcon. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge the educational environment that students partake in, identifying learning strategies and communication techniques that continue to get through to students. Um we are also currently working on a debate for change event. Uh debate for change um is in the works
005as a fun modern style debate and discussion where students will discuss current educational topics and the kinds of ideas or changes they want to see in school system today. While the event is designed to be engaging, it also supports learning by helping students practice critical thinking, communication, and collaborative problem solving. The goal is to create a space where students can share opinions, explore new perspectives, and spark fresh ideas that reflect what matters to them right now. Uh overall, we have been actively developing several initiatives aiming at improving student experiences and strengthening strengthening engagement and productivity throughout the school. The Falcon Fast program is still in progress and is designed to reward students who demonstrate strong attendance, high academic progress, and positive behavior. The student voice survey is also being created to gather authentic feedback from
006the students regarding events seen throughout the school year enforcing a continuously harmonious environment. Additionally, the debate for change event is currently in the works as a modern style debate where students can discuss relevant topics and propose changes they want to see in today's school systems all while practicing critical thinking, communication, and problem solving. Together, these efforts aim to elevate school spirit, increase student involvement, and create meaningful opportunities for student voice and leadership. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, I'll turn it over to Miss Andrammy for our district update. Good evening everybody. I'm Lisa Andrew from the communications office. Our Albany High School United unified botchi team literally rolled competition this past season with a big first place finish at an October 29th tournament featuring Shaker South Glenn's Falls in Queensberry. Go Falcons. [applause] Tonight
007we're thrilled to welcome members of the team and their coach to talk about their victory and their season. I'm going to invite special director of special education Elaine Graceler up to the mic to get the introductions going. Elaine. All right. Good evening. Tonight we are excited to recognize the unified athletics team for an outstanding season. The championship tournament held at the Italian-American Community Center in Albany brought together nearly 500 students from 28 schools, including 10 new participating schools. This incredible event also underscored the strong and ongoing partnership that the Italian-American Center has with our athletes where we regularly practice and compete. under the leadership of coach Alicia Ericson, now in her third year. We call her coach A. So, [laughter] um, our team has continued to grow in both skill and confidence. This season, they
008once again demonstrated exceptional talent, teamwork, and sportsmanship, ultimately earning the title of division champions. Our athletes are supported by dedicated staff who go above and beyond for our students and families. This includes our athletic department, our coach, support staff, and first student drivers. Their commitment truly makes this a unified effort in every sense. We could not be prouder of how our unified athletes represent the city school district of Albany. As we celebrate this championship, we also are energized and committed to expanding these opportunities in years to come. Congratulations to our team for bringing home the unified botchi division championship for the first time. And now I'd like to invite coach A to say a few words. [applause] >> Thank you so much. I would also like to thank the board of education for this opportunity
009to showcase unified sports, specifically the unified botchi team. Albany High School's unified program began with began with basketball in 2018. Five years ago, bowling was added to the program. Alby's unified botchi team started three years ago and the sport of unified high school botchi has grown from 18 teams in section 2 to 28 teams this year. This season, Albany competed against Mahanison, Shaker, Guilderland, and Colony in our league. Our only season loss was to Shaker, which was a new team in our league this year. Our athletes came to practice ready to learn, and we were competition ready for matches. These athletes are coachable, willing to learn, and demonstrate sportsmanship at every practice and match. We specifically focused on learning all the rules, strategy, ball speed, angles, surface style, grass versus clay, ideal placement of the
010pleino, bank shots, pointing, hitting, and how to position your team's botchi balls for more points in the frame. Our culminating event matched us against Queensbury, Shaker, and South Glenn's Falls. Albany competed head-to-head with each school. At the end of the event, we were tied with Shaker. Drum roll. It came down to overall points. Our Falcons were able to score more points against Shaker and we pulled out the division victory. [applause] I am beyond proud and I tell them every single day how proud I am of them. These athletes are fantastic. Their dedication and persistence show. The Times Union newspaper also featured our fabulous Bachi team and several athletes were quoted in the news article. The athletes would agree with me that unified sports would not be possible without the support of the athletic department, special
011education department, teacher assistants, nursing staff, and staff who just work tirelessly to support this program through my many texts throughout the day, back and forth communication. We are thrilled to be here tonight. We thank you for the opportunity and we're pleased to keep roll keep rolling into victories in the next few years. Thank you. [applause] >> The members of the team and the coaches and all the associated folks like to come up here and have a picture taken with our superintendent and our board members, please. Trying to think of the best way to do this. Yeah, that would be great. I hear you in a little bit more right here. >> [applause] >> Good to see you. >> Thank you. >> Nice to see you. That made so much easier. You did a great job.
012>> Oh, we all set. Next we we will have uh principal Nicole Newman from Gifin Memorial Elementary School and assistant principal Dr. Little tell us about the great things happening this year at their school. >> Welcome. >> Thank you >> twice in one day. >> I know presentation is going to go up. Good evening to the board and to the superintendent and cabinet. Thank you so much for having us tonight. I don't know if the presentation is able to be seen. So, we begin all of our programming with uh district's vision and mission to aim for excellence with caring relationships engaging learners that provide equitable opportunities for all students to reach their potential. Uh the district mission, the district's goals, excuse me, include increasing student achievement and enhancing delivery of quality instruction. While the school's
013vision mirrors the district's focus on excellence and equitable opportunities, GI Memorial Community School's mission is specifically focused on growing and empowering independent thinkers who will be strong, responsible community leaders. Our school, next slide, please, is led by myself and my assistant principal, uh Dr. Little and our newest assistant principal uh Miss Audrey me. Thank you. Gifin Elementary School uh serves 371 students from preK to fifth grade with the student body being 54% black and 27% Hispanic. A high proportion of our students are economically disadvantaged at 79% and 21% are multil- language learners. and the rest of the demographics you can see on our slide. Thank you. Our staffing updates. So this year we were able to hire a third grade uh new hireer in third grade, a new uh ENL teacher um who came to
014us and she's we're very happy with her. Um so we have a great ENL team over at Gifin. We have a new behavior specialist this year and our community school site coordinator is a return hire. She was our community school site coordinator two years ago, left the district to uh teach for a year. Um and then that position became open again and I begged and pled as much as I could and she was willing to come back and support. So we're super excited to have her back with us. Um but currently we have one vacancy. We did hire for this position um but that unfortunately uh fell through. So we are still in pursuit of another uh replacement for that first grade position and we're also looking for one subta for one of our special
015education classrooms. and I'll go to Dr. Little. >> Good evening. Again, in regards to our SEP, we have four key strategies that we have embedded within our SEP. As you can see, there's one instructional strategy, two non-instructional strategies, and one that is focused on MTSSI. In regards to our instructional strategy, our key strategy number one, we are working with an outside consultant, Dr. Jalinda Sto who has been coming to the school working with the leadership team as well as our coaches to assist us with ident uh supporting teachers with writing and having impactful lessons around their learning target. That is the major emphasis currently for trimester 1. Trimester 2 will focus on plan questioning and trimester three we will focus on the feedback. In regards to our second key strategy, we now have a multi-tered
016system support integrated, meaning that our MTSS academic teams and behavioral teams are coming together unified during one meeting so we can best meet the needs of the child by looking at the whole child instead of having two segregated meetings. In regards to key strategy three with our community schools, we looked at our previous data from last year and knew based on the data that we needed to improve overall community engagement with a special emphasis on family engagement. So we have rebuilt our PTA. We have a new president and we actually had a meeting last week which which was one of the highest attendance attended meetings within the last couple of years. We also had a parent workshop last week that was facilitated by a parent and she actually offered to facilitate that meeting and lend
017her time to us. So we were grateful for that. And lastly um our key strategy four is focusing on our leadership. We are um increasing our visibility throughout the schools in various ways which include walkthroughs to support instruction for the teachers as well as the students. And we also have a district mentor this year. One of the building principles in Alb City School District is working with Miss Newman and myself several times a week. Next slide, please. I can't read those numbers, so I'm going to defer to my print out, but um as a school and receiverhip attendance is two of our receiverhip indicators, and we have consistently met both of those indicators, uh year-toear, we are still meeting that goal. As you can see from the chart, currently our overall attendance rate schoolwide is
01890%. And our chronically absenteeism rate is 30 30%. And again, we want that chronic absenteeism to be low and that overall student attendance to be high. You can see some of the incentives that we implement buildingwide in order to continue to have that continuity when increased attendance. We usually start with a kickoff in September, which is our back to school block party. And what we do is we have our homeschool coordinators target specific specific families who have children who are chronically absent or chronically tardy. And during the block party, we tend to pass out um academic materials, but also attendance materials so that they can see the importance of showing up. We do have bi-weekly attendance meetings which are facilitated by myself and also um our two HRC's provide a lot of support. Our guidance
019counselor, our nurses as well as our district attendance officer. We all come together during those meetings to discuss students to discuss barriers and also to discuss incentives and ways that we can get our families and our children's in the building daily. Additionally, we have something that we call SIG attendance groups, social academic instructional groups. Those groups are facilitated by one of our homeschool coordinators. He facilitates those meetings each week during students lunch blocks. So, that is his opportunity to talk to students about the importance of attendance as well as as well as some of their likes and motivations to get them to come into the building. And lastly, we have daily incentives that range from recognizing home rooms that have 100% daily attendance to Gator visits to our uh famous attend dances which happen every
020trimester. So our students look forward to our first attendance which will take place next month in December. >> Our next slide please. Community schools. Um, so Gifin Memorial Community School highlights uh constant collaboration with partnership resulting in enrichment opportunities and events at GIF like our gifting garden party that happened last spring on the planning of our peace poll in front of the building. Um, our community harvest dinner which is tomorrow. So if you will feel free to stop by and break bread with us on tomorrow. Um, we also have support with our Whitney Young uh healthbased center and our building blocks and our trunk or treat. The photo that you see there is a partnership that we have with Regeneron and that's also a wonderful event that occurs every year at Gifin. And so we're
021we're looking forward to and there's a list uh my community site coordinator had a list of over 20 partners that uh more than 20 partners that uh have a relationship with us but it just wouldn't all fit on the slide but we are happy about the partnerships that are exist at GIF with our community schools initiative. So thank you for your support in that area instructionally. So as Dr. a little mentioned our focus from our SE our instructional focus is on uh the high impact strategy of lesson study protocol. So we have what I we did one of the things we did this year was to redesign our our master schedule such that my grade bands have a common prep in addition to a common planning time. So if teachers want to get together on
022their own to collaborate or to invite a coach in to help them collaborate and plan during their prep, they can do so. Um the previous master had teachers with on same grade bands with different prep times. So it made planning together somewhat difficult. So we're really that was one of the feedback that I got from the staff that they are appreciative of this more time that they have to plan together. Um we also focus on uh coaching cycles within our instructional framework. So we've had 19 teachers in the building sign up for coaching cycles to help with with their planning. And the coaching cycle involves them and a coach sitting down to plan a lesson together. um the coach modeling that lesson instruction for them. It's almost like a I do, we do, you do
023model for them and then there's feedback around what they saw and how they can implement that practice throughout their teaching. Um we've had 50 classroom visits and 11 walkthroughs uh thus far and the feedback around those uh walkthroughs is such that there's a two-way communication. administrators are going in observing if the learning targets are posted. Are those targets as aligned to the standard of that lesson and then having conversations around not just around it being posted as a compliance document but also speaking to students and can they speak to the learning target and to the learning of the lesson of the day and so that's what those conversations are about in those walkthrough feedback cycle and I already talked about the master schedule so we'll go to the next slide. Thank you. So let's talk
024about some of our successes. So um we have as Dr. uh Little mentioned we are in receiverhip and part of that receiverhip process is our demonstrable indicators that we look at throughout the year with our NWA assessment. So we do that three times a year and then that data is reported to the state. By the way we did have a visit from the state on November 7th. They came in for an in-person visit. There are four visits a year and uh that that Friday we had an in-person visit. The state team came. We talked about the lesson study protocol and the changes that we're making to our behavior intervention plan. And then we visited several classrooms and then debriefed on what we saw in those classrooms and they gave us specific feedback and things that
025we need to think think about moving forward and also celebrated some of the accomplishments that we're going to talk about right now. So the deans indicator composite score last fall was around 18.6. This fall we were at 36. So we more than doubled our last fall to fall uh demonstra indicator. So we're hoping that that trajectory continues from our fall to spring in our state assessments. We did the state did share with us that we had some increase in our ELA. Um but there's some work to do of course in our math. We would like to also highlight that with a partnership with AF we were able to open a full pantry at GIF now. So, we only had clothing um before uh this year, but they purchased a freezer and a refrigerator for us.
026So, we are a full functioning pantry at Gifin, and we are super excited. We serve currently serve 15 families. We no longer have to do the backpack program because now our families can shop right at our school. And so, we're real excited about that. We also have I don't know if I put it on the slide, but we also have laundry facilities at GIF that our families can use. um they can sign up through our QR code and make an appointment to come in and do their laundry for free. Um we have our staff is reporting enhanced comment and cla excuse me culture and climate increase due to some of the behavior interventions that we have put into place specifically our reset room and refocus. So reset is an opportunity for a student who has
027not been able to maintain in the classroom. By the way, every classroom has been outfitted with a calming corner. Some of them are more jazzed up than others, but they have them. And if a student is not able to maintain in the classroom, they can go to the reset room. They meet with a TA specialist in there. They have a opportunity to decompress, do a thinking sheet, give them a strategy they can use going back into the classroom and then they are given a soft handoff back into that room with the help of that aid with five to 10 minutes and make sure the student is ready to learn. And then if the student goes through the tiers of interventions and not able to succeed then they go of force to the refocus al also
028known as the ISS. So um we had more visits to the reset which is what we want right because we want students to be able to go there be able to be deescalated and get back to class as opposed to going directly to punitive. So we want to be more supportive and restorative. And so our challenges, our ongoing focus remains to be on tier one behavioral practices and preventative strategies, enhancing student deescalation approaches and ensuring that behavior interventions are implemented with fidelity. So one of our weekly CBTs is dedicated specifically to behavior. So our entire behavior team and the liaison for that grade band meets with the team to go over behavior support plans and to ICSPs and all of the support documents that are in place for those students to make sure those plans
029are not just on words on paper but they're actually being implemented in the classrooms and if the teachers need support or if the plan needs to be edited we can do that at that meeting and have those conversations on a monthly basis. Our next step is to focus on classroom experiences. these behavioral ch classes that experiences these challenges still persistently. We'll um initiating a new tier one reboot. So, we'll do that again for the entire building, but specifically targeting those classes because oh, by the way, the reset and the refocus room, we collect that data on a Google form so that we can run reports on who are the students, where are the spaces, what time is it happening, and using that data to direct how we do our interventions. So, we'll do a reboot
030of our tier one, support those classes that need it, and like I said, the monthly behavioral CPT meetings um to make sure that the plans of first students are being implemented with fidelity. And finally, um to thanks to one of my veteran teachers, Miss Jessica Felts. Here's a little bit about what's happening at Gifin for your viewing pleasure. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Thank you so much. And that concludes tonight's district highlights. Thank you, >> Bo. Colleagues, as a usual practice, I ask you to prioritize your questions and >> Oh, you okay. >> Um, I have a couple updates uh for the board and community. [clears throat] Uh first I'll give an update as we were here two weeks ago about uh security
031upgrades at Albany High School. I'd like to recognize that this is American Education Week. We have a couple athletic achievements and reminders around winter athletics and concerts and at this time next week we will be off for Thanksgiving. So, regarding uh Albany High School security upgrades, uh two weeks ago, um I shared with the board that we were going to slow down our implementation timeline of new uh security equipment at Albany High School. And so, I just want to take a brief moment to walk everyone through uh our process and how we got here and what our um next steps are. So, uh, for a while now, uh, our district-wide safety team was researching, uh, new technologies as many of the technology at the high school was nearing end of life or, uh, was well
032past, uh, end of life. Um and so our team was uh researching through uh consultation with other agencies and school districts and certainly uh talking with vendors and opportunities to learn about new uh and innovative advanced technology at conferences. Um we had decided that uh it was time to upgrade our security at Albany High School and uh began that process. What we learned uh as we discussed two weeks ago is we wanted to engage parents a little deeper. Um, so we had a number of uh opportunities to engage with parents. We had two in-person meetings uh in a virtual meeting between all three. We had about 20 different uh parents and community members attend and uh on this link and uh it was also emailed to all of our high school parents. Uh you could
033see that uh PowerPoint slide deck that was shared uh with all three groups. Um most of the questions um that parents asked, we'll we'll get to it. But we have a couple frequently asked questions um were really around um the uh asurances that the um technology was not invasive that uh it would speed up process getting into school and that um the district wasn't retaining any of the images or or photographs of um what was taken whether it was through the bag scanner or going through um going through the ballards. And so uh we spent about a little over two two and a half hours across those three meetings um meeting with parents. We had uh the actual uh technology that was was there. Uh last week we had some uh representatives from the company
034uh was able they were able to join us and and uh answer some questions. So um we want to remind everyone that the the benefits of uh of this process certainly is to make the morning entry more efficient. Uh we know that uh sometimes um the process that we have right now where security personnel are actually going through bags and and um looking at uh looking at what's in backpacks or purses uh can take a while. And so uh we're interested in this process to certainly reduce tardiness uh and to minimize bag searches. Uh it also will provide more uh accurate screening and we'll be able to uh trace and track for different uh potential uh devices that are entering the school that we uh want to make sure that uh we don't allow. Um
035we also realized that we'd be able to better deploy our security staff that if you're uh walking in the high school in the morning, there's anywhere between a dozen and 15 security staff as part of that process. um will need um fewer staff in the morning for the entry process um so the remaining uh hall monitors and security staff can be uh deployed to different parts of the building. So uh we are um working with the uh companies to build that technology. I want to make sure that folks understand this is not plugandplay. It is not a type of technology that literally you just plug in and then use it. It takes um a significant amount of calibration. Um and the uh training process for our staff is very uh very vigorous. It's about five
036days. And what happens is that uh members from uh the security company work with uh hand inand shoulder-to-shoulder with our staff uh on uh you using the new equipment and working the new technology and software. So um the roll out is uh very prescribed. It's very um specific, but um it takes a long time because we want to make sure that our folks are are trained properly. So, uh we're looking for roll out in December. [clears throat] We want to be able to test all of the equipment and test the technology and if we need any uh need to make any tweaks or any additional training, we could do that over the um over the holiday break. Uh we have a little more of an extended break this year. Uh we have an FAQ document
037that uh is also uh online and you can click it by um accessing this PowerPoint as well. Um and we did learn a few things and had some concerns and some opportunities uh to engage with parents not specifically around this initiative but really around engaging high schoolers. And we heard from our our board rep earlier today about some of the ideas um that they have and how they want to engage their fellow high school students talking about the experience at Albany High School uh and how we can continually improve that. And as I shared with the families uh over the course of these three meetings that the metrics that we collect and we have tell one story. And I [clears throat] want to make sure that that um I share this. At Albany High School,
038average daily attendance is up. At Albany High School, chronic absenteeism is down. And at Albany High School, uh, graduation rate, uh, when it's public and we can share it, it's going to be the highest in more than 10 years. So, what the metrics tell us are more kids are coming, uh, they're learning, and they're graduating at rates, uh, higher rates than before. What we don't know, and what we want to, uh, conversations we want to continue to have is what is the student experience? And those are really good um conversations to have and and we look forward to that process and we had that uh very open and direct dialogue with families u more so last week than this week at the at the forums and we look forward to to rolling that out and
039um and reporting back not just to the student body and the high school folks but also the board as well. It is American Education Week and so we want to make sure that we um thank all of our teachers and support staff and our and our school leaders. Uh if you have a moment to reach out to any number of our staff members, uh we hope that you will um let them know that we appreciate all of their efforts working for working tirelessly for almost 10,000 children here in [clears throat] the city of Albany. We want to uh remind everyone that one of our fastest cross-country runners, Noah Baiser, he has been uh shown on this update, I think each of the last three or four meetings, we've been tracking his progress. He is uh
040one of only four section 2 student athletes that will run this Saturday in the state federation cross country championship. So that is uh the Super Bowl of cross country. So, congratulations uh to Noah. We were trying to get him to a a board meeting to recognize him, but uh we're going to let him finish up uh his fall season and then we'll uh we'll bring him in and and recognize him. So, as he is wrapping up, he is our last student athlete from the fall season. We are in the throws of winter athletics. Uh our high school and uh high school teams have begun practice. Modified for seventh and eighth grade will begin on Monday. And you can get all of your practice schedules and uh game schedules and how to make sure you're eligible
041to compete online at the website provided. And also it is winter concert season and concert season actually kicked off uh last week on November 12th with uh the chamber concert at the high school. Uh but there there is seldom a day Monday through Thursday after we returned from Thanksgiving where there is not some sort of concert at any number of our schools. So, uh, make sure you go to our website to, um, participate and hear our outstanding Falcons, uh, perform and sing and, um, have for most, uh, most of the students, it will be their first concert of the season. And our holiday concert schedule, of course, does go into January. So, if you miss a show in December, I'm sure you'll find one in January. And a reminder that uh this time next week
042we will be off for Thanksgiving break that all schools are closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So we will see you December 1st. Uh Academy Park offices will be open on Wednesday, but make sure um if you have an appointment or you want to make sure that you uh deliver something to a particular person or department, we ask that you call or email in advance um so that they can be there and make alternate arrangements. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Superintendent. As is a usual practice, I ask you to prioritize your questions and ask your uh most important question first. Uh we'll start with one question for each board member and then depending on the time, we'll go for a second round. We'll start with Miss Sona. >> I have no questions. I was
043I would just like to add and comment uh regarding the security measures. On behalf of myself and on behalf of many conversations I've had with other students, we are absolutely excited to have this new implementation just to ensure that our school is safe and to ensure that our lines are efficient each and every day as we get into school. So, thank you very much, >> Mr. Almanabi. No questions, but I will echo um what my fellow student board colleague uh said. Um I know a lot of the community members were a little apprehensive, but taking a step back was definitely the right move to ease those fears and let people get educated about the new security system. So, uh kudos to the team. Um I also want to say uh about the GIF presentation. I
044love hearing that there's very few spots left um very few open uh spots left on their rosters. So, great work. >> Miss Matt, >> I I don't have any questions. I am glad that um I've heard from a few folks um that being able to participate um and go online and find out a little bit more about our school uh security update was uh quite helpful. So, thank you for that, >> Miss Gra. >> Thank you. I echo what my colleague said that I really appreciated having the chance to hear more from manufacturers and our security staff about the new proposed security equipment and to see it in person. It did absolutely assuage some of my concerns about it. I really liked that the equipment was very lightweight and portable and very easy to walk
045through. Um I really liked that there's going to be thorough training for the staff who will be operating the X-ray machines. Um, one thing that I would uh like to ask in and encourage is that this new lightweight is is that the security screening be placed for uh visitors to the school building during the school day um as has been recommended previously to us because definitely after hours um everyone goes through security whether it's adults or students but during the day right now adult visitors to the buildings do not go through that security and that seems to be um definitely ely a gap. Um the other question I had was at the presentation we uh students were told we recommend at least for now that they arrive up to a half hour early to allow
046time to go through screening and I know that's an increase in time over what has previously been you know has been recommended a few years ago. We moved up school times to start later five years ago um in accordance with the research that shows that late start times for high schoolers are better for their health. Is there an upper limit? Um should this should this procedure not prove to be faster? Is there some upper limit beyond which we would say it's unreasonable to expect students to wait? You know, is 30 minutes the upper limit or could it potentially be more than that? >> Yeah, we'll um we'll ask the the uh technology folks to see what they've seen in schools the size of of Albany High School. It's always a concern whether it was implementing
047this sort of technology or yonder pouches scalability for 2700 students. We now have that second entrance uh in the back of the school. So, we have sort of divided and conquered, but we'll certainly evaluate that and um I know the communications uh from the school have been consistent that 8:30 is when school starts. U you know, get here that's not on time. If you're on time, you're late kind of uh message. So, I know that they'll continue um to encourage students to show up just a little bit earlier as we work through some of the kinks. >> Thank you. >> Right. I mean, that's what I remember as well. Uh you know, 8:30 is when school starts, so please show up by 8:15 at the latest. So, there's enough time to get through the security
048lines. uh and and considering that this is supposed to be quicker since an individual doesn't have to go through the bags which takes time and it's going to go through the scanner that wait time is going to be shortened and so you know if you come earlier than 8:15 great but you know don't show up at 8:29 it'll still take some time and Mr. Wolf Gang, sorry for I've been completely out of Robert's rules today and start giving you the last. >> All good. Um, yeah, two quick shout outs in that question. Number one, uh, goes to, uh, Noah and our cross country coaches. Um, that program, I think every few years, uh, has one or two students that just, uh, really like show out and end up going to college because of, uh, our
049cross country program. So, I just really want to shout him out for that. and the coaches of course. Uh shout out to obviously our superintendent and principal Cford for being willing to listen to the board when we said we had concerns, take a step back and uh listen like hear us out and hear out the community. Unfortunately, I was not able to join those presentations, but I was able to see that online and I found that very helpful. Uh my only question, it kind of relates back to what we had uh what I had mentioned to you when we talked about this two weeks ago. um is have we or are we going to be training our security people on dealing with the positives and like how not to overreact to those situations? >> Absolutely.
050We we talked about that with our director of security and some others around sort of the how to handle the bedside manner um and not and have a reaction um that doesn't draw attention, doesn't embarrass anyone. Yes, we we have uh done similar trainings in the past when we implemented our uh Raptor technology that if something came up through um our background check system that we use how to handle that, we're we're going to continue the same sort of training. >> Okay. Glad. I just I'm always worried with new technologies about things like false positives. Um so I just want to make sure that we have a uh process in place that we're not going to overreact and potentially put a student in a dangerous, unsafe, whatever situation. So, oh, thank you. Thank you. >>
051Yeah, I don't have any questions either, but uh I I was able to attend one of those meetings and I'm thanking you for, you know, taking that step back and making sure that we address the concerns the community has because I don't think anybody questions enhanced security for their children. Uh it's just that people have questions because they don't know. It's a fear of the unknown and and clarifying those doubts allows those people to to buy into it, right? And and muna here, you know, gave it two thumbs up and that's all we want to hear, right? If the students say okay, who are we to argue? So, thank you again. Any other questions, folks? Okay, moving on. This is the time we set aside to hear from members of the public. Um, Miss Timmons,
052do we have any public comment today? Oh, we have a virtual comment. Okay. Um, so the board always welcomes input from the community about the decisions we are making. We set aside up to 30 minutes for each meeting to hear from uh district residents, parents, students, and other members of a community. There are more comments than can be accommodated, which we don't anticipate today. We may choose to extend the length of the public common period or alternatively establish the second uh common period later in the meeting. We also uh 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 translation when necessary. All comments must include the commenters's name and place of
053residence. We do not accept anonymous comments. All the information about these and many ways to share your thoughts about with us are available at addressing the board uh information at albonychools.org. We ask all commenters commenters to um uh keep in mind that the 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. Um and I believe we have a virtual uh comment today. >> Hello. Um I think my I can't Oh, there's my camera. I'm Mary Nolan. I'm speaking on behalf of the Albany Special Education Parent Advisory Council, or CPAC for short, of which I serve as co-chair. I am a speech language pathologist. I retired
054from the district in 2020 after 16 years of service. My experience as an SLP and as the parent of a young child with a learning disability inspired me to work with a few other parents to form the Albony CPAC in 2022. And we're very grateful for our partnership with Elaine Gryler who apparently never stops working. Um, last meeting my co-chair Becky Zimmerman called in a message explaining that we at CPAC are planning to take some time this school year to share information about the 11% of our school district population who are served by individualized education plans or IEPs. So last meeting, Becky explained that there are 13 categories under which a student may receive an IEP. The category called specific learning disability accounts for the majority of IEP students, about a third of all students
055with IEPs. Learning disability or LD covers a wide range of learning challenges that make it hard to read, write, listen, speak, reason, or do math. Um, and LDS can vary in severity and may affect one academic area or several. It's important to remember that students with LD have average to above average intelligence. Some common learning disabilities are dyslexia, discalculia, disgraphia, otherwise known as written expression disorder, and non-verbal learning disorder. Students with LD need specialized instruction using research-based structured and explicit interventions. Instruction can be provided individually or in a small group and in a number of ways including in a resource room or in a general ed classroom with support from a special ed teacher. Students with LD may receive classroom accommodations like teacher provided graphic organizers having their tasks broken down into smaller steps, visual
056aids, hands-on activities, and assist of technology like text to speech and speech to text. And students with LD may also receive related services like speech therapy, occupational therapy, social skills training and counseling. As a former district employee, I know that Albany has exceptional educators who are incredibly dedicated to their students and the unified team that Elaine talked about is just one example of the great support provided by the special ed department in every aspect of our students lives. So, we hope that this year um we can help to shine a light on the learning challenges of IEP students and on the important work special ed staff does to support these students. We look forward to presenting about speech and language impairment at the next board meeting. And I want to thank you for the opportunity
057to present to the board. >> Thank you. [snorts] As always, we appreciate all public comments and we find hearing from community members very valuable. Again, our contact information for both public comment and routine correspondence is at albonychools.org/boe. We now move to the part of our meeting we call routine consent. During this portion of the meeting, we approve routine matters for the district. These include items like contracts, field tripips, personnel matters, and the like. Each board member reviews each item carefully, but we vote on them together as a group with no discussion. And this allows us to use a 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 their item. With that introduction, I now entertain a
058motion to adopt the routine consent agenda. Miss man, Mr. Almani, any set aides? Miss um Miss Grchie? >> Uh thank you. I'd like to set aside number eight, Bullseye LLC, and number nine, Curriculum Associates. Okay. All any others hearing none, all in favor adopting routine consent agenda item uh less items eight, Bullseye LLC and number nine, Curriculum Associates. Okay. So, those are adopted. Um, Mr. Go ahead. Number eight, Bullseye. Uh, thank you. So my question about this one, one of the things we've talked about for a while, one of the things that's helped spark the um ad hoc routine consent um committee getting started is concerns about purchasing and concerned concerns that the district is um carrying out the appropriate competitive um research when engaged in purchasing. And it looks like this one says it
059is a sole source that there's only one provider. And the letter says Bullseye LLC is the sole source provider of the Bullseye school walkthrough platform and in the world. And yes, it is. That's the brand name. It's like saying McDonald's is the sole source of a Big Mac. But if you're going to do a contract for hamburgers, there's lots of people that make hamburgers. there's just only one called a Big Mac and there's only one school walkthrough platform called called Bullseye. Um but you know my cursory research shows that there are a number of school walkthrough platforms and many of them are less expensive than this. So I wondered if we could set this aside and have um [clears throat] have Miss Hulan or whoever did the research for this provide some more research on
060who are the competitors, what are their prices, and why was this one selected. Hi. Yes, I can certainly do that. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, >> you're welcome. >> We'll set set aside number eight, Bullseye, to the next board meeting. Number nine, Curriculum Associates. >> And thank you. This is a very similar This is a very >> Do we need a motion for that? >> Oh. Okay, I'll second that. All in favor of setting aside. Okay, that's unanimous. >> This is a very this is a very similar question in this one. This is also been listed as sole source and the sole source letter is a letter from the president of the company saying the company president has done extensive market research and confirmed that they are the only ones that sell that
061product. Um, but that's not really, you know, we would really like a district staff member to evaluate the competition for products like this, not just rely on word from the salespeople that theirs is the only one that's great like that. Um, also another quick note on this one, there is nothing in the service uh contract information that actually details what services they'll provide. It literally like just shows subscription fees, product elevation 1813, strategies 1813. Uh does have it does have the company's full uh account number, bank name, ABA routing number, and tax ID, which concerns me a little bit because we're planning to share student data with these folks. And this does not strike me as being particularly data savvy. But anyway, um, if we could look into this and make sure that they're kind
062of do more research about what the competitors for this company are, that would also be great. >> Certainly, I'll follow up with Mr. Gillio and let you know. Thank you. >> Motion to set aside. Second. All in favor? Okay. >> Okay. And if I have a moment, um, as part of the approval of routine consent, the board has also appointed our newest cabinet member, our assistant superintendent for secondary instruction, Lynn Rutnik, is with us tonight. Lynn is a a veteran leader who uh her roots are from uh or in Albany in the capital region. And in fact, her lit literal roots, her mother was a longtime teacher for us here in the city school district of Albany. And we're excited for Lynn to join the team after a very exhaustive process. So Lynn, you're more
063than welcome to come and introduce yourself. >> Welcome. Press it till the green light comes. >> Okay, good. I didn't want to forget anyone. So, um, board of education members, superintendent Hawk Rider, and the superintendent's cabinet, I want to thank you, um, for trusting me and putting your trust in me. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to return home and to help advance the shared vision of the board, the superintendent, and our vibrant Albany community. I look forward to contributing with purpose and partnership and um full commitment to meaningful impact for every single student here and um it's just a great day to be a Falcon and I am so excited um for this opportunity. So, thank you so much. [applause] Next item on our agenda is actions on our policy. I'll pass it
064on to the chair of policy, Miss Cr. >> And thank you very much. This one is just school district records. As you'll recall from last time, um we suggested changing one line to make it genderneutral and that's it. Uh can I get a motion to adopt that new policy? Okay, thank you very much. Going to turn this back turn it back to President Jour. >> First by um motion by me, second by Mr. Almani, and all in favor anonymous. Just for the record. Um okay, next item is the budget development calendar. So, um I'm going to throw the calendar up here. It's just we or I updated a couple of dates. Uh the 25 Let me just get up there. Sorry, as as discussed in the last board meeting. Um, so on the 25 date,
065I made sure that I put only required if we are changing polling locations. Uh, just so it's a little bit more clear. Uh on the 1218 there was clarification about the information will be provided to the board and then it would be any questions were would be given back through an SBU to the cabinet members. Um and I think there was one more I added the 423 date for a board meeting if needed. So it's just a quick presentation to show this as it'll be up on for an action to adopt on the next board. So, >> it's not an action item for today. It's No, >> it's listed as an action item. >> I'm sorry. Yeah, it's supposed to be I had to show it once more before the action. >> Okay, we'll act
066on an extra. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So unless something unexpected happens, we don't anticipate the board board will take any further actions tonight and the balance of the meeting will be items for discussion, some of which will lead to an action either to our next meeting or a future meeting. And that brings us to the new course proposals. Sure. Or kind of more just putting it out there, but um I wish our council was still here. Can we look into uh removing the polling location restrictions for the school budget and schoolboard votes because I remember that was an issue last year where the district lines changed so people were going to the wrong location but then also we were using old district lines so we can just look into that. >> We could look
067into it. Um, I don't know if it's feasible just because with the uh voter book it's preprinted so that it you can't go to different locations multiple times. So, but we could ask the attorneys. >> Okay. I just wanted to bring that up. It's something we had talked about right after the vote last time, but So, >> thank you. >> Good evening. Um, good evening board of education superintendent, cabinet members, and the greater Albany community, Principal Commer, and I are pleased to share with you our new course offerings at Albany High School for the 2627 school year. Next slide. Oh, any slides, please. There we go. All right. So, as always, we'll begin with our vision, mission, and goals highlighting back one. Nai, highlighting the aspect of each um applicable to this particular presentation. So,
068we continue to reflect on um the coursework we offer uh to our high school students and provide engaging learning experiences and a robust educational program and we always endeavor to strengthen and broaden these opportunities. So, next slide, please. This slide highlights our process. Um we'll give you a moment to review and then shift to our priorities for this year's course proposals. All right. So, our priority this year is to consider course proposals in the context of our desire to create and expand career pathways, um, opportunities that, uh, foster career readiness and are responsive to the New York State labor market. Uh, we'd like to set ourselves up for success as we prepare to implement new graduation requirements and New York State's portrait of a graduate. We also want to broaden our partnerships with higher ed
069and expand our UHS or CHS offerings. so that our students can earn college credits whenever possible. In terms of logistics, we have a very robust catalog of course offerings already, which is one of the greatest programmatic strengths um at Albany High. Uh however, that poses its own unique set of challenges when it comes to designing and executing a viable master schedule um within the confines of our budget and staffing resources that allows students to explore all that we have to offer in a manner that promotes equity and access for all students. and I will turn it over to Jody. >> Thank you. All right. So, you can see um here this year we are pleased to share the six new course courses across three departments that we are planning to offer in the 2627 school
070year. We have art um animation 2 and content creation in our career and technical education. Um this will be in the fax pathway under human services foundations of education in America introduction to game design and development in technology and then in science microbiology and zoology. Next slide. And this will um strengthen our pathways. Um, both animation 2 and content creation will serve to strengthen our media arts pathway, while adding courses to our CTE offering serves to both reestablish opportunities for future educators to explore their career goals in the human services pathway and diversify the opportunities within our computer science pathway. [snorts] In science, new courses in microbiology and zoologology offer opportunities for students to explore career opportunities in multiple areas including health and medical, biotechnology, environmental science, and ecology, some of which are in demand
071fields in the Capitol region, which Miss Hulahan's going to discuss. All right. So, we have had some really amazing opportunities this year. uh the department of labor joined our leadership week in the end of August and then they came back uh to meet with some of our staff members on our family conference day in October and have shared some data with us that we really tried to consider and incorporate as we are on the precipice of uh New York inspires and a portrait of a graduate. So, we just are sharing a couple of the slides that they shared with us um to highlight um the connections between um sort of so that we're better understanding the landscape of employment trends across our state and region. Um and the next three slides highlight those trends. Um
072and so we're trying to draw the connections between our existing and our proposed course offerings and what awaits our students in terms of opportunity post-graduation. You can go to the next slide, Maya. Um, so many of our courses uh support students interested in some of these career areas and we'll continue to monitor these trends as we begin to imagine Alby's portrait of a graduate. There's one more. So, the first two were New York statewide and this one is specific to the Capitol region. Um, and with that, do you have any questions for us? That is my shortest presentation on record. >> I have no questions. I was just I would just like to add that it's always great to see the amazing course offerings that continue to come each and every year and also support
073students with all these different uh amazing new opportunities. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Wolfkang. >> Um yeah, uh well, number one, let me echo my uh colleagues comments just there. Um, I'm really happy to see uh the proposals that you guys are moving forward with. Um, I guess just one question if you can expand on the uh why the performing arts ones were turned down. I know it notes staffing, but I think we have staff in the building who are familiar with that. So, if you could just expand on why some of these were able to get approved and others weren't. >> I'm going to turn that one over to Jod and I can add on. So there's a stakeholder committee represented by all of our departments at the high school. So um we take
074a lot of things into consideration um looking at the master schedule. Um one is a number of singletons um which restricts the schedule um which is one of the biggest things that we look at. Um two um we have one theater teacher. So, um, in the current case load that we have, if we we add that section on, it would would cut other other courses out at this time. >> Okay. But that's not a concern for the other courses like we already have the staff hours to be able to absorb them. Is that >> correct? Because we have more teachers in those departments. >> Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. Nomi, >> I'm always excited to see these. Um, I'm always I love seeing when we have new art courses. Um, so
075I'm super excited about our students taking animation and media arts. Um, I have a question similar to member um, Wolf Gang. So who develops the ideas uh or suggests these courses like do students have any like part in maybe suggesting the courses and um for you know future oriented reasons. Uh I think I mean if I could make a suggestion right now that next year we maybe look at AI oriented classes because I really want our students to be on the cutting edge. Some people have quams with AI. Um whether you do or don't that's something to discuss in a class maybe. And um I do want our students to be really on the cutting edge of what is happening right now. So, um I like seeing the computer science and I, you know, I
076appreciate all these things, but what I've been reading is AI is going to be doing the computer science for us really in a few short years. Coding is going to be done by AI bots and um I want us to be on that forefront. >> We agree. Um, we actually, uh, have some really exciting things going on that are not necessarily they're precursors, I think, to some of that work. Um, we are going on Monday to a regional AI summit. Uh, the superintendent and I are going with Dr. Prepino and two of our instructional supervisors um to start looking at that work regionally. We also recently went to U Albany for our October um, administrators meeting. uh we were hosted by ETC and uh had an AI professor come and and talk to us. We're
077working on an AI guide book. So we are really very tuned into knowing that we need to move rapidly um to shift our adult understanding of AI so that we can certainly shift it toward the students. Um I want to attend to one of the the the mentioning about computer science. I couldn't agree more. Um I my son is a cyber security major at U Albany. So I am wellversed in some of what you're hearing about you know computer science as we in its traditional form being um increasingly antiquated. Um and so part of I think the game design that's part of the the motivation here is the game design pathway the game design development AI cyber security are the arms of um our computer current computer science pathway to start ensuring that within that
078field there are other opportunities for our students to explore um as the maybe traditional side of coding um becomes less relevant more obsolete. Um so that's part of what we're doing there. And um I was going to say one other thing I remember >> there was a question somewhere in what I said. Yeah. >> Um it was essentially how do these propos are how are these proposed? >> So typically um it starts with a teacher um who anecdotally collects information from students. Jody and I actually discussed earlier today that this is my first year overseeing this process. I would like to do a student survey um and maybe some focus groups uh for next year's process to get a better sense of what our students are considering um maybe that our gaps are um in
079our curriculum. It is why our school counselors come to the table as stakeholders on that committee because they are having those direct conversations with students on a one-to-one basis and um and bring those forward. But I do agree that um we agree, we t discussed it earlier today that we want to incorporate um a student stakeholder perspective uh be it through surveys or be it through actually inviting um a student member as a part of the committee. >> And I'll jump in real quick. Part of um the intent of the state education department's uh reform effort uh uh portrait of a graduate is to create new or additional pathways particularly at the high school based in some part to student interest. And so uh our superintendent group met today, a group of I think assistant
080superintendents meet tomorrow. and the state is slowly, you know, leaking and dripping different pieces of this plan and districts will be able to wrestle with, you know, timeline and putting it together. Long story short is that um the initiative um expects that there will be a level of student engagement in what those pathways are. Now the issue is going back to one of the slides that was shown in this uh in this PowerPoint is we need to close the gap between student interest and what the real world market is telling us. Um because what we don't want to do is we we don't want to have all of these pathways and opportunities for kids in a in an oversaturated market or in a market that just doesn't exist that's going to create a lot of
081people un uh not as employable. So, while we work through um how to close that gap per your request for this time next year, know I just want everyone to know that a level of student voice will be part of what pro uh profile of a graduate looks like. The the issue is really going to be connecting those dots if there is a wide gap between interest and what what um the businesses and and industry are telling us. >> Thanks, folks. and Jen and I were really cognizant in this process this year of the pathways and keeping that in mind. >> Miss Matt, >> I will um echo the excitement that others have uh put out there um for these uh new courses, the proposals um and it's clear to me that it was very
082well thought out. So, thank you for that. It's good for our students, >> Miss Cr. Thanks very much for the presentation. I'm excited about the new courses. They really seem very engaging. I had similar questions to some of my colleagues about some of the courses on that were proposed that didn't make it this year. The first question is the English courses. It looks like it says no. They're under curriculum review suggesting that they might be added next year once that's done. But then there's also an intriguing course called history through film that doesn't have notation on why it wasn't selected. So yes to the curriculum review. We generally would not add new coursework while we're on the precipice of a review because the time would come later um for that to be a consideration. As
083for the history through film class um the social studies department h and this is again back to some of the logistics. One, I think um imperative for us is to not get too far ahead with portrait of a graduate because if we have to add other things based on um what we're uh the New York, you know, the new graduation requirements, etc., we have to be cognizant of that. Um in the social studies department specifically, they've added a number of new courses over the past several years, and all of them, I think, are running as singletons right now, which becomes really complex from a master scheduling perspective. Um so that was part of the consideration. They are also a department that is largely fully um kind of they're stipened it out. Um and so there's
084not a lot of FTE wiggle room in the social studies department right now. Um so that was another consideration. Um so it's a no for now. Um but again uh folks are welcome to sort of bring these things back to the forefront as we um consider the you know opportunities. >> Thank you. And I also really appreciated the information about the labor trends both on the statewide level and what's in the capital district. I did notice one of them surprised me and it did give me an idea about a future class that could be very popular and also tied into an in demand career which is I noticed the demand for CDL drivers and delivery drivers. That seems to me that driver education um if were there a way to bring it back could be
085definitely tied into these career and technical and labor market um end goals and maybe that would be a way that we could bring it back. Thanks. >> Thank you. I'm always excited when you have new opportunities. Um, you know, so kudos kudos for putting um putting this through the the thought thought process and and pairing it with what does the market need, right? Because no point in teaching somebody some skill set that they're never going to be able to use. Uh it's a waste of their time. It's a waste of your time. It's a waste of our resources. So, thank you for for thinking through that process and and making sure that the demand exists out there. Um, it's ET tech by the way, that's why we call it, not ETC. >> Okay. So, that
086that's where the uh AI institute is, you Albanesey's AI institute and we're part of the AI empire plan for the state. Um, and whether we like it or not, every aspect of every course that we're doing, whether it be biology, chemistry, AI is getting to be a big player in it. And and um the idea is not to let AI do your uh do the work for you, but to let AI do the mundane tasks that would simply take time and then augment your work to make it better, right? So you can focus on what you can what the humans can do better. The human brain can do better. Um so um you know um I'm you you already addressed my colleagues uh concerns about u AI. AI needs to be taught the right way
087and so we are still in the process of learning it to do it right. Uh, and so I'm glad you're taking the time to do that. And I'm thrilled to see that you're teaching microbiology and zoologology because a whole field that is going to open up to these students. Um, not just the healthc care field, but there are other fields like forensics, ecology, u where people are using these newer tools of of genomics and what have you. Um, it's more than just peter dishes that that the traditional microbiology. Uh, and and a lot of that includes AI as well. Uh, so I I think it's going to be great. Um, now sometimes I wish I I was going back to high school for more opportunities to learn new things. Thank you. >> Thank you. >>
088Absolutely. Um, so for the uh Foundations of Education America, it says it's pending approval. Did the committee not consider it? What's uh what's going on with that project? No, that one is we're offering that. Um, where does it say pending? >> Uh, I have your uh the memo as well. >> Yes. >> It would be pending approval with Hudson Valley for UHS credit. Okay. >> We intend to run it. Um, that said, it would be the I think third course in the pathway and we don't have a robust group of students in the second step of the pathway right now. So, it's more of a longer term goal, but our goal is to get all of our education um you know, sort of with our our pipeline goals um to get all of them with
089UHS or CHS credit. >> Okay. >> So, that's what's pending approval. >> Um and then just quick followup to that because I annoy Kate about this a lot, so I figure should spread it out a little bit. Um, do we have any kind of like committee, working group, anything of our teachers who are also Algnney High grads who can kind of contribute to what they feel they would have benefited from in these courses? Um, I know we don't have like an actual master list of people who are also our graduates, but I think bringing some of them in, I know at least one I graduated with is uh came back to us this year. So >> that's a great suggestion and we will work with Kate to explore that opportunity >> and there's a yeah
090there's a lot on staff as well. >> That was it. Thank you. Board committee reports, facilities. So facilities met actually last Wednesday and we discussed multiple things. um high level we discussed uh the deficiencies that are at the high school. Um as we finish up uh the new high school, there are some deficiencies. We are working through them. Um we also spoke about a few other matters regarding the five-year plan and the building condition survey survey. We have intentions of looking at all of the schools under like essentially a lens to um make sure that all of the vestibules have um proper security protocols and uh spaces. We are also comparing large educational spaces across the district and making sure that there's equity in large educational uh spaces across the district. Um we spoke about
091uh the reserve center next to the high school briefly and um potentials potential uses for that if we were able to acquire it. Um, and I'm opening it up to my facilities colleagues if I've missed anything. Oh, uh, we also installed the, uh, stained glass windows. Um, we are going to be putting a little plaque next to it, which we're going to have a little statement drafted about the historical significance of those windows and the process to get them restored and installed. Um, am I missing anything else? I know Ann's >> No, I think you pretty much um covered it. We We spent some time talking about the deficiencies and um uh and there is a a plan for that and um I think everything else was covered. >> Yeah, a few of the deficiencies
092have been dealt with like it's just a process there. >> Yep. It's just a process. >> Yeah. And that's it. >> Okay. Anything from audit? Our audit committee met um a couple weeks back and at our last board meeting we presented um the findings and our next meeting I believe is in January, January or February. So that's nothing more. >> Okay. >> Policy you guys met yesterday, right? >> Yes, we met yesterday. Um it was a really great meeting. Um we did decide to bring some of the pol to do some more work on some of the policies and bring them back next month. um policy 0115 student harassment and bullying cabinet will be looking to make it a little bit more robust pro possibly bringing in some material from the samp sample regulations since
093we don't have a separate regulation a little bit more about a little more detail about investigations and how we deal with those complaints and then um we're looking to clarify some things on 5162 student release precautions to add more categories of people adding in parental relation that could potentially pick up a student in emergency situations. >> Okay. And ad hoc didn't meet this week, right? >> Ad hoc's meeting was postponed, but we're going to meet again early in December, I believe. >> Okay. >> Once we have more information on the travel and conferences. >> And I know Miss Savage isn't there, but I know that she scheduled the school visits and they've been going on. And myself, I visited uh TCC and uh Gifin this week. I also visited um Monttoauri Elementary and I visited
094Hacket and um both I was so surprised at how serene and quiet they were. Um, not that other schools are, you know, crazy loud, but I think there's just something in their in their school vibe that, you know, induces calm for both both spaces. Um, and I was really impressed. >> I had the opportunity to visit New Scotland Elementary. Um, it was a wonderful visit. the leadership staff there um gave me a wonderful tour to um board member Elman Yawi's um uh observation. Uh it was the same. It was a beautiful very clean uh building filled with um just these beautiful kids and a lot of great energy and it was really quiet and it was really nice. Um so um I plan on visiting uh AIA um the not next week but the week
095after and um um scheduling uh a visit with um uh Eagle Point um after that. So looking looking forward to it. >> Very good. >> Have you had any of your visits, Mr. Wolfkang? >> Uh I have not had my school visits yet. I am in North Albany Middle School tomorrow morning and then I'll be in Pine Hills Elementary School on Monday morning. Um and then I have one more visit uh to get scheduled. Um but I'll report back at the next board meeting on at least those two. >> I also have not had my visits yet. I'm going to be visiting Overhill and Roots in the next couple weeks. Thanks. >> Great. Great. It's amazing what's happening in all these different buildings and over the last three years that we've been doing school vis
096visits. You get to feel the soul of the building when you when you go there, right? And and connect with the staff there. I mean, people come here and present their, you know, 10 slide, 20 slide pitch of the school and that's not enough. So, I love the fact that we get the opportunity to go and have that hour, hour and a half with um staff there and and talk about issues, you know, talk about challenges, talk about successes a little bit more detail. um you know some some issues I mean with the building survey coming on uh it's it's nice to go and see and actually see some of these issues so when we address them as they come in this long priority list we can see yeah I remember that and we can
097advocate for those things a little bit more effectively I believe so all right and government relations uh we should be scheduling our meetings at some point in time soon uh beginning of December we are meeting with the Big Five. Uh we have a retreat with the Big Five talking about all kinds of things. Uh yeah, soon it'll be the time to to get out our begging bowls and burn the incense and go uh asking for stuff. Can't believe it's like time is just flying. Um okay, any other business items? Okay. Motion to journ. Okay. Miss Keri, Miss Elman, Mr. Almanavi all in favor. Okay. And thank you everybody. And the board will join the cabinet for a resource allocation retreat right after.