001good evening my name is Vicki Smith and I'm president of the city school district of albany's board of education on behalf of the board I welcome you all to our meeting it's so good to see everyone I am joined in person by quite a few people first let me uh introduce our board here I want to say Mr elmanyawi there are the end um Ellen crazy our board secretary Shadow doctor our vice president Ann Savage Tabitha Wilson and damerous man I also want to thank our board clerk Ms Jetta Ray Gale and may I commend you on handling that vote canvas and all the staff yes and I know you had many helpers and because I don't want to get leave anyone out I'm just going to thank everyone including community members who served as
002poll Watchers just an incredible job and we thank you Mr lesko thank you also on that work yes thank you I also want to have you know that uh Mr John yagelski our interim superintendent is here and this is uh going to be his last meeting I'll say more about that momentarily a big smile he's he has a big smile well I have a big smile too I'm going to miss you um and also Mr Joe Carris who is our assistant superintendent for business and finance and um I'm going to try to my best to recognize cabinet is here I see of course Mr Kent Baker is our assistant superintendent for data assessment and Technology okay that's the shortened version of it our assistant superintendent for secondary education Lori McKenna I see our director of
003HR Kate thieves our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction is Karen bechdel I see Dr Cecily Wilson Turner our assistant superintendent for elementary education and there are a few other names I know Miss Rose how you doing good I'm coming over there uh and I also want to uh Mr lesko is our communications director and I think that's most of cabinet if I haven't left anyone out I did want to recognize also um Lisa and Jeremy who is part of the communications team and you've seen um Jake plank who's our incredib incredible creative artistic something or other hi Jake um and um also I see here in the house Tom gillio who is our director of enl I see Michelle Bridgewater who is not only one of our administrators but his um president of the
004apsa the administrators Union and I see several schools of one of which will be speaking today I see Ms Brown from Giffin thank you Miss Harold Gaines from Arbor Hill Miss Demetria Rose AP over at uh um New Scotland okay and uh and I know that there are some other staff with Giffin and I your faces are oh I'll get to high school in a minute but um there there were I I have to say I apologize uh because there are some faces that I'm not as familiar with from Giffin and Arbor Hill but I know that you'll be introduced by your principal okay all right and at the high school definitely want to thank uh principal Jody uh Comerford hi Miss comfort and I see Miss uh candy antonetta here uh oh miss corny
005Miss Tia Cornell is from Pine Hills and did I leave anyone else out okay what a group and uh I got it good thank you I can't no more tests for me um and I know we'll have some other uh recognitions through the evening but I also wanted to just uh a special shout out to my JROTC Cadets and Friends thank you um we'll say more but I I wanted to again apologize for not making my trip with you because I was so looking forward to it um but you did incredibly just fabulously and we do want to recognize you tonight I want to thank major David Erickson and I see uh first sergeant Alan Williams and uh we're just so grateful for all that they do with you and these students are just incredible
006so we'll come back around let me also just thank everyone for being here and those of you who are listening in or watching you're able to access this meeting and other future meetings at Albany schools.org forward slash Boe we will show all relevant slides here in this meeting room as well as on the virtual screens we again I we usually say something about covid I want to thank all of you for continuing to take great measures in keeping safe washing hands that's a big deal and big and very important and keeping distance should you become sick or feel ill so it seems like we're doing great on those numbers in our school district so thank you all for continuing to do that work and if you're here obviously some of you are here in person
007if you'd like to speak or make a public comment please see Miss jetery Gale here at the end of the table uh who will get you signed up and with that introduction I want to invite 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 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 and with that I want to if you notice our agenda has changed us a little bit I would like to let you know that
008we have made a decision as to our new superintendent of schools and let me just get my little screen up here all right very good so our school Community our community at large just want to thank all of you for the input you provided into the superintendent search process as you recall in January of this year the Board of Education selected the capital region BOCES to launch and facilitate a confidential search for the city school district of albany's next superintendent which began with a month-long Community engagement process this process provided all students families District employees and community members with an opportunity via an online survey as well as a series of virtual and in-person focus groups to provide input about the characteristics and attributes they would value in a district leader and what priority issues
009the district leader would need to focus on upon arrival and I'm sure I believe there were two other questions but those were the primary two that I wanted to address tonight BOCES hosted 20 some focus groups and obtained feedback from more than 400 community members in addition the board invited the leaders of three Collective units absta apsa and absu to provide input on behalf of their membership the board used the themes that emerge from that input to inform the candidate search and interview process that occurred this spring respondents said in response to the question what characteristics and personal attributes should the next superintendent have the participating respondents said we want a truth teller we want someone who values transparency someone who's visionary someone who's student focused and student-centered in their decision making culturally competent individual
010authentic collaborative and open-minded on behalf of the Board of Education I'm very pleased to say that we found that individual the community has also asked that the new superintendent work first to improve several areas our facilities our staff recruitment and retention budgeting and business operations and a big big focus on building trust and relationships with our diverse Community that's each and every one of you and I am pleased again to say that we found that individual who will focus on all of these priorities now you're like she's going on and on but let me get to it now um we have selected a veteran New York Public School leader who has the characteristics and personal attributes our community has identified and who is experienced and ready for the work the community has prioritized I present
011to you tonight Mr Joseph Hawk Ryder who has 14 years as superintendent in two public school districts having led the Elmira City School District from 2009 to 2013 and the Hudson Central School District from 2013 to 2023. he also by the way served as elmira's Deputy superintendent from 2006 to 2009 and before he comes up there's some little action that we have to take I ask you board colleagues to now approve and appoint Mr hawkrider as our next superintendent of schools may I have a motion to do so Dr shatour seconded by Miss Mann may I have any discussion to this no discussion seeing none all in favor that is unanimous so Mr hockrider all and we've all in favor of appointing you congratulations and please everyone join me in recognizing Mr hofbrider [Music] thank
012you [Music] good evening superintendent vote of confidence oh I'm sorry uh I'm I'm overjoyed and and uh a bit overwhelmed I've I've spent the last day and a half here in the school district meeting incredible people staff and um uh many parents and community members and I have not been more nervous or had sweaty Palms than right now so thank you thank you for your vote of confidence and thank you for engaging in a in a superintendent process that was genuine and allowed for legitimate dialogue and a discussion so we could build relationships um when the position became available I had a number of friends and colleagues and and mentors in the capital region reach out to me and when you become a superintendent it's a lifestyle job you have to be all in all
013of the time and you can't just apply to be a superintendent and and think that it will work you really have to do your homework because this is a really important relationship that a superintendent has with their school board and and their entire community and I learned a great deal about your vision and your passion for all students in Albany and the more I learned and read and and did my homework and research the more comfortable comfortable and confident I felt that I could be a part of your team and and lead in Albany and I think we spent about three and a half or four hours together in a series of of interviews uh and I felt more and more comfortable throughout those interviews and I am just honored and Overjoyed that I've been
014selected to serve I've met with a number of Staff met with the office staff today and the and also the executive cabinet we did some ice breaking icebreakers uh to get to know one another and I can't tell you what we talked about but I can tell you we had a really good time and I think we're going to make a really good team um to serve your students and I know we have a full plate tomorrow meeting with a number of stakeholders and important folks that are Partners to the school district and I'll be back next week and the week after before I officially take the superintendency in June 1st so thank you for your support thank you for your vote of confidence I'm really looking forward to becoming part of the city school
015district of Albany family and hopefully next Thursday we'll be moving into our our home that we purchase we'll know more about that tomorrow but I look forward to not only serving a superintendent but being a very active Community member so thank you very much thank you and I do I do hope that you've had an opportunity also to meet some of the folks who are here and um and especially this crew over here uh so um thank you again um if you would also you may stay seated for a moment there uh I would also like to take this opportunity to express a great appreciation to Mr John yagelski who has served as our interim superintendent um he did exactly what we'd hoped and that was to keep us keep the ship steady and calm
016and um and he did that and he also uh provided quite a bit of leadership I would say on on many in many areas and really really want to thank you for your work with the grading and attendance task force Committee in particular taking that issue up on our behalf and also just working constantly with folks to make sure we could get through that a tremendous amount of work that they have committed to uh I also uh want to thank you for your work on um hearing and listening to the various communities within our school around issues concerning safety and school climate you'll report a little bit tonight on on what you gathered from doing an audit or having an audit done and so those those two things uh I mean you know sometimes you
017don't ask a whole lot of a superintendent interim superintendent but I have to say uh Mr gelski just provided it and did what needed to be done uh when when asked and even not when asked so I want to commend you sir and thank you so much for just being with us for the last five months or so and actually before then you were working on our behalf but this was really no small feat over the last few months and I thank you thank you very much much thank you sir [Applause] foreign what do you say after that other than goodbye no on a more serious note um well I've lived in this area for a number of years I didn't really know very much about Albany and Albany School District and frankly it's been
018an honor to spend time here and to learn and to learn about what's really happening in our classrooms and in our schools we're doing a great job with a very difficult job so I I really appreciate being here and having an opportunity to work with so many good people and I will miss them all from one to the other and I thank them for all the support they provided me um I I want to take a minute to um I tell you um you know this was my first not even a full year of being president um and it was amazing to get to see our cabinet in operation in a different light and I already knew how hard they worked um but it was incredible watching that AP just kind of fly by me
019and take charge of things and and work with you and so I I want to express uh on behalf of the board our gratitude for you uh keeping helping to keep that ship floating and steady and just barreling on so thank you again cabinet and our principals the school leaders our teachers our Hall maintenance everyone our food service again you know one problem with listing groups is you're going to forget somebody but I I know how hard and we know how hard everyone works in this district and we are determined that we're going to be the best that we can be and we will make it through all the struggles and challenges together no one's alone in this we will do it together students I thank you as well okay all right [Applause] so we'll
020move on with some District highlights is that Mr lesko foreign and I won't be sitting here for very long because I have once again tonight the great Fortune to have some very special guests to introduce and to Welcome to our meeting tonight uh special guest to highlight our district highlights students from our JROTC Henry Johnson Battalion traveled to New Jersey last weekend as we heard at the start of the meeting to take part in the second Brigade Raiders competition our students returned home over the weekend with 11 trophies nine of them were first place trophies [Applause] they have qualified for the national championships of the national competition in Kentucky next fall making marking the first time that a JROTC program from the capital region has advanced to the National level [Applause] it is my pleasure
021to give up my space and to welcome major David Erickson and our Jr ROTC students to tell us more about these outstanding achievements foreign [Music] thank you for having us here tonight um I want to thank Mrs cummer for first of all because she's always giving me good advice about she takes me and listens to me talk long-windedly and she puts up with me so tonight I promised her I would keep it very short so I wrote it down so I I wouldn't uh Mr Comfort I I sincerely mean that too because you don't know how many times to go in and she listens to me so so I majored David Erickson the senior Army instructor for the sergeant Henry Johnson battalion JROTC is a leadership and citizenship program which is Cadet run remember Cadet
022run the motto is to motivate young people to be better citizens with me tonight are members of the Albany High jotc Raiders team and their coach first sergeant Rome sitting to my left you're right as you look at us last weekend these young men and women competed in the second JROTC second Brigade competition the second Brigade is compromised of over 121 high schools in the northeast states these Cadets took first place in respective categories from here they will represent the Brigade and Albany High at the national competition Fort Knox Kentucky in November 2023. the coach first sergeant rione devised a training program which the cadets executed to include setting standards for team selection in the fall they started getting themselves in shape for the grueling competition they participated in this past Saturday in early January
023they started practicing four days a week at 7 30 in the morning and sometimes again after school in a lot of muscle Players Sports so they were really managing their time and time management is one of the things we try to teach in JROTC the competition this past weekend consisted of four events of one broke Bridge a two mile cross country run a physical fitness challenge and an obstacle course which included a one mile run carrying a weight of about 100 pounds on the stretcher and then going to the obstacle course at the end of that there were two divisions at the competition Masters and challenge challenge is the entry level this was the female team's first time in the Masters so they won first place last year in the challenge being they were in
024the Masters division this year and they took first place most of the other schools had competed at this level before but the Newbie team from Albany High School took first place shocking a lot of them thank you the males competed at the challenge level which is a good thing for the male teams already at the Master's level I say this because the scores they retrieved in three out of the four events were hired in the first place team at the Masters bottom line that they had competed in the Master's levels they still would have won first place in the first place team at the Masters would have been second place membership on the team is not based on your physical capabilities and ability to work as a team you must maintain a 90 attendance in
025all your classes and also be passing just ask the two Cadets who were dropped because they could not maintain the standards I can't emphasize enough the part the first time we owned played in making this happen he devised a training plan and then taught the kids how to implement that plan that's the sign of a true Mentor in addition he coordinated the logistics involved everything from lodging to equipment and uniforms he put his 23 years in the Army five of which were in combat plus his time as a drill sergeant and operation sergeant major to good work we're very fortunate to have a person first sergeant Owens caliber on our team working with our Cadets in first sergeant I know we tell you this for sergeant is my opposite he doesn't say much he just
026executes um believe me um the jrtc program is a Melting Pot of Albany High School which is perhaps The Key to Our Success at this time if you wouldn't mind I want to introduce four random Cadets I didn't tell them this in advance but I'm just going to ask them real quick to say something on the mic they'll be loud believe me so um Samira chica Mr Hartman major I would this is me sorry I would love for them to come to the mic so that we can record that oh yeah yeah all right so Samira you come on down come on down Tamara and they're going to answer [Applause] okay so cenera says you shy okay so they're going to answer four questions I want to give their name where they're from where they
027were born the languages they speak their plans after high school why they joined and why they stayed we'll start with Samira my name is Samira I'm from Sudan and I speak three languages english four and Arabic and my plans after high school I'm planning to join the medical field or go to the Army for medical also and I joined because my brother introduced me to it and I really liked the program and I stayed because I used to be like really shy and I couldn't really speak like I am speaking right now and so yeah I stayed because of that reason and I made a lot of amazing friends over there so [Applause] um hello everybody hello hello hello uh my name is chica useshi I am currently a senior here in Albany High School
028um I'm from here born and raised I only speak one language which is English my plans after high school is I'm attending Suny Brockport in the fall to major in nursing uh the reason why I joined JROTC uh when I was a freshman I saw people in uniforms so I thought it was cool so I joined to see why not and I stayed because I seen a lot of improvement in myself like confidence and Leadership skills and all the amazing friends that I met so yeah thank you laughs I'm kind of sick so yeah um hi my name is Dominic hongton um I'm from Burma but I was raised in Malaysia I speak total of three languages English um Burmese and Malaysian and I plant my plant After High School I want to be a
029dental hygienist but if I can't become a dental hygienist I either plan on joining the Army or on the police force I joined because my brother told me about this program and I was interested so I joined before the program I always had like a bad attendance and I was really bad with my grace so this program actually helped me become a better person a better student and I stayed because I made new friends and I just thought it was like really fun so that's why I stay [Applause] hello uh my name is Nicholas Hartman I am a freshman at Albany High School I am born and raised in Albany I speak English as my only language um my plans after high school so I was talking to Major he was telling major in first
030sergeant telling me about being enlisted you can get like early retirement so I'm I've been thinking about that I've been thinking about either going to college to major in business or getting going enlist going the enlisted route and getting early retirement all those benefits and I joined JROTC because my best friend Henry the tall one over there he uh he told me about in eighth grade and I thought it would be a cool opportunity I didn't really I was kind of impartial and I just did it because he wanted to do it but af ever since this um Raiders competition we just had last week I really bonded with my fellow peers and Raiders and I felt like a kind of a second family so I've stayed because of the bonds that we've made and
031it's just been a really great opportunity overall foreign the last two we have are our team captains um and I'll let them introduce themselves and uh they're good at speaking um hello good evening uh my name is Ryan Lynn I'm from Thailand I speak about two languages Quran and English um my plan after high school is I want to attend West Point the reason why I joined GRTC is because last year my friend told me to try it out and I did and the reason why I Stay is because to me Georgia C is you know like Nick said it's like a second family you know the bond the diversity and overall it's a fun program to be in um I just want to shout out as a male Captain Raider I just want to
032shout out to my team you know they're the best anyone can ask for and thank you guys for helping me please first place overall So yeah thank you [Applause] [Music] hi my name is saraf Ahmadi I'm from Afghanistan I came here about six years ago I speak three languages English Farsi and Spanish and my plans after high school are I'm attending you Albany in the fall and I'm gonna study criminal justice and hopefully join the FBI um Big Dreams um why I joined JROTC the cafeteria is a really loud place and I just wanted to have another room to eat my lunch in but I stayed because like the amount of Opera leadership opportunities that were given to me like Second Chances and stuff and I've saw an increase significant increase in my confidence in
033my public speaking skills and my ability to make relationships with my second family as most of them call each other um why I join Raiders because I love obstacle courses and I just the you know the Raiders uniform is better than this one um yeah thank you as a side note that you're probably getting embarrassed when I say this but she's a Renaissance lady she not only is she's number 10 in the class at school she has a garden at home and she can fix bicycles so she does it all um and just give me another minute here now you've heard from this Cadets I would like to give the mic to First Sergeant Rome don't worry unlike me believe me he's short and very to the point first sergeant all right so I'd just
034like to thank everybody here for giving us opportunities because when I have the opportunity if it wasn't for all you guys here and not just you guys either parents in the audience uh Guardians whatever uh all the training they did and these guys know here I I pushed them it's my mentorship but it's like the cadets are on autopilot they do it themselves now I'll go out there and watch them and then I'll say hey no need to do this better and that's I mean Ryan was Rumble Bridge time it was 225. two minutes 25 seconds going across the Rope Bridge you guys see them do here in the school in the morning took two minutes the fastest time out of Masters and uh challenge level females had a 258 time so pretty close to
035the metal team so as a mentor I just push them to do the better and the kids do it themselves now they want to do it so great job to all you guys and thank all you guys for all the support we can do without you guys that parents and Guardians [Applause] just want to thank the board principal Conifer for believe me she puts up a lot with me she really does and she always helps us out and all the others from Albany High School to help us you know we've had the uh we did a Tulip Fest last weekend and Ron in the front office helped us out uh we have teachers who've been in on chaperones and uh head of the board here she even has a uniform that will get her to
036wear to camp this summer when she goes off the Rappel Tower so anyway and it I also wanted to shout out the female team I forgot thanks guys for not giving up on me and listening to all my corny um motivational speeches and showing up their practice thanks that's great major just um one one more question for you one more question for you sure um who is the go-kart Challenger that I'm up against anyone who's that who went is it Samira really okay oh he's got all that fun I've heard and they said they practiced though so you can't beat none of them now oh okay we'll see about that hey thank you all so much and we're very proud of you thank you thank you you tell us what to do that's it boyfriend
037over here foreign [Music] thank you so much Mr lesko you have more it seems an appropriate time to note that uh use a General MacArthur quote here note that I have returned so next Thursday students families and community members are invited to a career fair at Albany High School all will have the chance to meet with representatives from local businesses and trade unions to learn about available jobs and the skills required for them in some cases there will be job interviews so don't forget to bring your resume the career fair will be held in the Albany High Gym it's open to students only from 1 to 3 30 pm and family and community members are invited from 3 30 until 5 PM and that's next Thursday May 25th and the city school district of Albany
038will be one of the many employers taking part Albany High School seniors historically are accepted into some of the best colleges and universities in the country and the class of 2023 is no different this year's graduates have been accepted at more than 130 public and private universities throughout the country the list includes Ivy League schools like Harvard and Columbia top state schools like Stony Brook and Geneseo historically black colleges and universities like Morgan State and Xavier top private schools like Haverford and New York University and local schools like the College of Saint Rose Hudson Valley Community College Maria College and Siena you can visit Albany schools.org to get a complete list of the colleges and universities that have accepted our seniors this year and whether the pathway for our seniors includes college careers or the
039military we are proud to celebrate each of them and look forward to recognizing their many achievements at our graduation ceremony on Sunday June 25th please also be on the lookout in the coming weeks for lawn signs and bus shelters celebrating the class of 2023. students from all of our elementary and middle schools will be facing off against each other and their peers from around the city tomorrow at the annual Joseph Henry as the annual Joseph Henry science fair returns in person for the first time since the pandemic the College of Saint Rose is the host of this event and stay tuned for the results because our student scientists typically are among the top Prize winners at this event the Albany marching Falcons have a busy schedule over the next couple of weekends the marching band
040will take part in the niska day parade the Saturday morning in Schenectady and they have two events scheduled for Memorial Day weekend on Friday May 26th they will March in the Maplewood Memorial Day Parade beginning at 6 30 pm and on Memorial Day Monday May 29th they will participate in the city of albany's annual parade beginning at 9 30 A.M you can find details about each of these parades at Albany schools.org speaking of Memorial Day Weekend a reminder that all of our schools and offices will be closed that day Monday May 29th we also want to remind our families that Friday May 26th and Tuesday May 30th will be regular days of school since we used all of our snow emergency days this winter it is now our pleasure to welcome principal Jasmine Brown to
041highlight the great things happening this year at Giffin Memorial Elementary School [Applause] good evening everyone let me get this mic right all right so again good evening board and everybody who's watching I'm going to say that when our slide show comes up um I'm probably not going to read it um but we'll we'll follow along um it's hard to follow those students but you see us smiling because it was great to hear their accomplishments and why we do what we do next slide please and actually if you go to the third slide with our vision mission and goals um so as we all know that in the city of Albany we strive to be a district of Excellence um our vision and Mission at Giffin is very much the same right and now we're building
042our goal is to grow empowered independent um students and thinkers that have an impact on their community and wherever they should um pursue um Beyond but we strive to produce leaders in our building our school goals are much like the district goals right to increase student achievement expose all of our students to standards-based instruction lift student voice which we will highlight um down the road in our presentation and as a community school we work really hard to partner with our partners in a number of different ways which we think we will also be able to show you in the upcoming slides next slide so I will allow my team to introduce themselves I am Jasmine Brown building principal at Giffin and I'll pass the mic and I'm AP Healthline good evening and I'm Nicole Dixon
043I'm also an assistant principal at Giffin so while their faces may be new they are not new they've been um they've been with us for approximately two years um each of them I know I'm impartial but um Donna Giffin we got a special team special special team and not just our administrators but overall you will find a team none like ours and my colleagues I don't mean anything by that but um Giffin is a special place for us demographics the next slide so this year enrollment is a little down for us than what we normally see in our building we have approximately 415 in our building the numbers normally higher but as you can see we have about 50 students who are alternately enrolled at the AIC um I will not read through our demographics
044as you can see that but in our our building we used to be four deep we are primarily three deep now from kindergarten through grade five with the exception of third and fourth grade because of some of the special ed programming that currently exists in our building next slide please so our sep while you'll see on the slideshow that there are three things identified nothing works in isolation right all these things are kind of tied in together in all the things that we've been doing to um to lift the achievement in our building the first thing is our standards driven instruction which looks a number of different ways um throughout the school days and the school week from the planning that happens in common planning with the teachers we are fortunate to have three full-time
045instructional coaches in our building that works closely with planning with our teachers as well as being in classrooms to lift that standards-based instruction we've done a lot of work around the instructional practice guide focusing on One Core at a time and really trying to move um slowly and methodically to live practice in our building data drives most of what we do in our building um we've really focused this year on our tier one planning and I know you guys have heard that right that is something as a district we've been working on I've heard the other school presentations and that's really been a focus of our work um one of the things we'll highlight later we've really been able to um maximize the teachers planning time because we are a community school we've been able
046to leverage and work closely with our Community Partners to provide additional time for teachers that really do that planning to shift some of the things that have happened in the classroom this year and I think my student engagement strategies got cut off however we will talk a little bit more about our student leadership team and the things that they are doing in the building um and then we've worked really hard in our classrooms to um shift from Sage on the stage to really allowing students to participate in their own instruction in the classroom next slide please so in regards to attendance you can see that over the last three years we have an increase in our attendance rate and a decrease and our chronically absent rate and 2020 to 21 21 we were at 85
047percent in regards to attendance rates and you'll notice the increase to 88 and currently 89 similarly there's a decrease in The Chronic absenteeism rate a decline from 46 43 and currently 38 next slide please I looked at this slide before I came and I think the percentages may be a little off so I did look at The Chronic absenteeism rate for last week and currently the students that are chronically absent as of last week was approximately 38 percent and those that are not chronically absent is approximately 67 percent in regards to the improvements in our attendance there are several strategies that we employ we do have bi-weekly attendance meetings at Giffin we have two homeschool coordinators and they assist us with identifying our chronically absent students those students are tiered tier two and tier three
048we call them orange students and red students at times but we do identify those that are chronically absent in addition to those who are chronically tardy we do work with families we make home visits and daily phone calls to identify the barriers that our parents may be experiencing we also have student focus groups we had two different focus groups based on grade levels one for K2 and another focus group for three five just so we can get an idea of the barriers from the student excuse me from the student perspective next slide please nope one more sorry so I was discussing the focus groups that we have but we also have attendance incentives each day we recognize those home rooms that have 100 attendance we also every trimester recognize those individual students who have perfect
049attendance we distribute distribute Gator tickets every day those tickets are in direct alignment with our PBIS model we also have bike giveaways at every trimester for those students who have 100 attendance for the trimester and this trimester we actually ordered perfect attendance uh t-shirts which are different colors just so we can identify those students who have perfect attendance by trimester as well as those who may have perfect attendance for the entire school year next slide great so the first part of course is start trying to remove all all the different baby bear case that stand in the way of students attending school on a routine basis so you know trying to get students in but the other part of that is once we once students cross the threshold of our school are we fulfilling our
050promise to make sure that those students see that that they're accepted that their interests are reflected in our school and that they're part of it and that's and that's the piece that kind of ties into our uh our improving attendance through through Equity practices so one of the ways that we do that through our students is a focusing on restoration circles and providing opportunities that when a student does have a conflict that we can all meet talk it through and and make sure everyone's voice is heard at the same time too at every single faculty meeting we share out our personality data so that all all of our all of our faculty and staff are aware of uh how how our practices are reflecting our relations and the other piece of that is uh conducting
051direct PD sessions where we actually look at um disciplinary practice practices overall in the school but also in individual classroom management practices as well and seeing ways to improve those next slide so some of our highlights as I said earlier is the community school is really working with our partners um and hopefully you guys are noticing some of the pictures our gift and Gator who visits those classrooms for the attendance dance parties um was on the last slide but what you'll see um on this slide are some of our partners who have been pushing into our classrooms and joining some of our events um to support our goals in a number of different ways I spoke briefly about our bi-weekly enrichment common planning time where teachers have an opportunity to meet um but we've done
052student surveys and the students have shared what they like to learn about and who they like to work with and then those partners are pushing into those classrooms to work with students while teachers are spending additional time planning and that is a heavy lift so again our coordinators my Community School site coordinator works really hard to to put that together between contracts scheduling um it is no easy feat but is appreciated by the students and the staff alike we have a number of community partner-led events throughout the year it is so nice to be back in person doing these things of course the virtual setting helps um as well and we're still using that sometimes but um it really has been nice to be back with families I'm supported by these Community Partners and while
053this was something we tried to do pre-covered this year was the first time we were able to have an academic parent-teacher team which is really a a different concept around parent conferences and we had a classroom of families so at when we had parent-teacher conferences um we had all parents come in and we identified kind of where the kids are we work with parents around some of the strategies that are happening in the room with the reading teachers they were able to practice that um and commit to doing some of those things at home um and in that classroom at the time we had about 19 students and we had 17 of those families represented um and then they came back for individual meetings so they could still meet with the teacher so that is
054something we plan to expand on this year and that too was supported by Community Partners they provide provided food for our families afterwards um so again just one of the the great benefits of being a community school and um bringing in our our partners to help help in our work some of the challenges and next steps um don't look very different from the last time I we sat here right um and it's really about growing our capacity as staff to accelerate the learning of our students that is what we strive for a given um we are constantly learning and developing our practices through on what you see on on the slide our professional development um utilizing our common planning time and really trying to maximize that time the teachers have together and then making sure
055that um the things that we plan actually happen in the classroom as Mr flaxlight talked about our Equity work has really been lifted in our building from our facilitators to us as administrators um really highlighting that and weaving it through everything that we do in the building um and then the support of our coaches has really been instrumental to the work that's currently happening in the building and we continue to to just try to do better and be better for our students next slide please so some of our successes go ahead Dr Dixon so some of our successes we also have a student leadership team that meets weekly it's comprised of seven students uh six of them fifth graders and one fourth graders and they have been very instrumental is this the wrong side here
056it is you want me to do my six to the success yeah I was so excited so some of the building successes has really been the growth and consistency and alignment of instruction um yesterday we had a state visit um and they have also talked to us about some of the growth they've seen in the building and being able to move through our classes um and see that consistency of instruction which is good to hear be reaffirmed um because that's what we strive to do the cohesiveness cohesiveness of our team um we are blessed and grateful to be able to have three administrators in the building um you've already heard about our homeschool coordinators Our Community School site coordinators um as you said earlier right we don't want to start listing because we forget um
057but the the collective of our team um really helps keep everything going daily so um we are blessed that we are able to work cohesively to continue to make the growth that we're making in the building um second couple cup of cocoa is relatively new Donna given so um turnout that we like to get um at those meetings so second cup of cocoa has kind of taking on a new life down in our building we we started our second cup of coffee and that's it was really meant to be um a light um in the morning drop your kid off get some coffee and we'll all kind of you know intermingle and talk um not as formal as you know a report out in a treasury report um and after the first one parents said
058where's the cocoa I don't drink coffee um so it kind of turned into this other thing but it's been a really nice forum for our parents to be able to um talk with one another and with us about things that are important to them and um and not so formal and stressful situation um so you know we are looking to continue that it it kind of happened by circumstance and has kind of grown into something nice in our our building so I wanted to highlight that and then our lift in student advocacy and voice in the building and outside of the building and Dr Dixon will talk about this at the next slide but our student leadership team has really taken on telling us what they like to do what they like to see in
059their building and really working to to get those things um have those things happen our given news we've shared a little bit on our um given Facebook page that's taken on a life of its own and the goal is really to have students really producing it and doing it all on their own right now they have a couple of advisors and coaches that support that work but it's great they've taken over announcements something I don't do anymore um and this this format the kids absolutely love it and it teaches them a whole set of skills that they are just thriving and taking on themselves and then our peer-to-peer confidence building as you all know we just finished testing and the kids did a number of things to encourage one another um they did videos we
060had a testing pep rally where they talked about how um well they could do and really inspired each other to do their best so again nothing here is in isolation we're really trying to weave that throughout our days in the building and next slide student voice I apologize was when I got excited about our gift and news anchors in the photo and I thought it was my style so as I stated previously we do have a student leadership team that's comprised of seven students uh six students are fifth graders and there's one fourth grade around the team they meet weekly and they've been very instrumental in lifting student voice throughout the building and the top photo those are two of our student leadership team members and also they are two anchors for our gift and
061news and the bottom photo you will see one of our students that particular student attended a Albany city planning board meeting to talk about the impact of the possible expansion of the City Mission that is across the street from us so that's one way he was able to lift his voice our student leadership team members have also worked on a map project for those of you who sat on the board last year we showed a clip of different areas special areas within the internal and external School community that our students find special to them so this year we will be continuing with doing the same work and videotaping those areas our he also was very instrumental last year and this year with the creation of our yearbook they have designed the cover and they will
062continue to design the cover this year with the theme that they selected which is perseverance and also the student leadership teams very instrumental with giving us ideas for different items for our school store we have many items in the store but all of them weren't necessarily age appropriate for our older students so they lifted their voice in that manner so before we show you our short video I also want to point out that equity in action picture was taken by a student so they are also behind the camera in a number of different ways throughout the building so what you'll see is not necessarily an episode the news a lot of like small pieces put together but hopefully in this compilation video you will see almost everything we talked about represented from what giving news
063looks and sounds like weekly in our building welcome to the gift engage Morning Show I'm tantan and I'm Jamaya from the fifth grade today is Friday March 10th 2023 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance we are given we are safe we are respectful we are responsible what do the weak explain the word explain means to make something clear to someone by using details facts or ideas the synonyms for explain or tell about describe review and reveal when Colt Hasty found my bird flying in the gym he could not find a way to explain how it got there remember every Saturday morning 9 to noon and Saturday morning basketball with books Let's Build a gym with readers and ball players we hope to see you there attention all given staff gift and getting gear is
064now on sale show your school pride by ordering and wearing some of the awesome items available for sale links have been sent out reach out to Mr Derek Dawson if you need the link orders will need orders need to be in by March 10th congratulations to all the students who come to school each and every day remember if your classroom has the highest attendance rate you just might get a surprise visit from the Griffin the gator our whole school book read this year is The Undefeated by the army oxendus every week here at the gift and getter show we highlight a different part of the poem here Kwame Alexander writes this is for the under Faith the audacious ones who carry their red white and red Blues on the battlefield to save an imperfect Union
065with these words Mr Alexander is speaking about the black soldiers during the American Civil War though the rich with discrimination was prevalent in the military black soldiers served in the Civil War providing additional Manpower and adding and playing a hero in the defeat of the Confederate Army by the end of the war nearly 209 000 men served for the U.S army but for a moment how can you be unafraid like the black rose you carry on while they face this discrimination how do you feel when it is Ramadan you feel excited because um the FC's cash and for one month we could we could go to heaven hola I have one question for you how do you greet Ramadan [Music] foreign look at Asia I have a few questions for you okay what is the
066title of the book you decided to read I decided little leaders both women in black history was there a particular black woman who resonated with you yes her name is Bessie Coleman what um page about the page is about black girl to to show that any woman of color or skin or any girl can do anything how's it going everybody thank you for having me here hope to see all heroes reading for 15 minutes every day what is the red bookshelf and why is it important great question the red bookshelf is a literacy non-profit and we're here to bring books to all the youth of Albany New York that's awesome can you tell us more about the red bookshelf absolutely so the same way that Heroes have the missions that they have to complete the
067red bookshelf mission is to inspire children to reap so we put bookshelves in all different places and schools and barber shops clinics all different types so that Heroes always have access to books don't forget and don't forget the red bookshelves are in your hallways and your lunchroom don't forget the theobies today be safe be respectful be responsible that's it for today today's a great day to have a great day [Applause] so thank you for letting us highlight Griffin any questions well unfortunately we normally don't ask you questions you know just really because of time but I think uh this is just fabulous and I want to thank you all so much for for being here and I won't forget your names next time so um and uh thank you what this is why we do
068this work as you said from the very start this is exactly why we do this work so thank you all so much for okay good [Applause] [Music] wow that was great huh okay and Mr lesko do you have additional okay well thank you sir um I'd like to turn now to interim superintendent yagalski who has a report for the board superintendent's report see if we can get it up there thank you as always we'll begin with our vision mission and goals and from the very first board meeting that I came to I was impressed with that focus and I learned to live with it everywhere in out this District so it's perfect thank you we have a few topics to talk about tonight a little on Safety and Security updates a job fair that was
069recently held a little update on the rating and attendance task force and then always ending with our health and wellness updates you'll you'll recall some time ago I came to you and indicated that I had some concerns expressed to me about safety at least some perceptions of concerns over safety right here in this this school after thinking about that we decided that it would be a wise idea to bring in somebody or somebody's to review where we are and to give us some sense of how we're doing and uh we we turned to a company that really provides our insurance and they have expertise on the one hand on the other hand they actually have an interest in that from a business point of view so I thought this is a pretty good deal let's
070let's go through it through it they're going to review all of our policies and procedures and then we had a virtual meetings to conduct interviews with key district and staff School level staff and then they have we had an actual High School site review three persons who showed up early very early in the morning before the school was even open to get a lay of the land and observe how the entrance went they stayed throughout the day and did a whole lot of reviewing from there and then produced a report I should point out these are the Safety and Security updates the these are the areas that they were worrying about and looking at you can see it goes all the way from Access Control to building identification facility alsications law enforcement relationships you you
071can see the whole business there they covered all of that stuff in their review all right skip that no they've presented their report earlier this month and I want to point out some of the key findings included in there as a positive overall assessment the district has quote an excellent security foundation in place at Albany High and in the district security director Vince Thompson and his staff have excellent experience and are developing model school safety programs the district is very fortunate to have that kind of leadership they are a strong team which will further improve with ongoing training Drilling and experience experience in an area where Improvement is needed is the recognition of the security team and their contributions to the Safety and Security of the campus it seems as though there are times when
072others in the district don't appreciate uh what what they're doing and why they're doing it and maybe inconveniencing some people along the way but they're that they keep doing their work the way they know they have to do it under the leadership events so the Safety and Security update they they grouped into recommendations uh three categories they gave us recommendations on policy related uh recommendations security related and arrival security our security team led by uh Mr Thompson and assistant superintendent of secondary instruction Lori McKenna are reviewing the entire report I've asked Vince in particular to go through all the recommendations and prioritize them for for our purposes and he has done a nice job he's already produced that and he's ready to go and I think I think we're in a much better position going
073forward and should be in position to go back to the high school and assure them based off of others looking at it that we're really in pretty good shape and that's the way they expressed it to me personally too so we recently had a district job fair right here in this particular spot the HR department hosted a successful job fair it was on May 6th and it turned out 74 total attendees uh 27 candidates are currently in the process as a result of this event and you can see from town from uh Hall monitors to secondary teachers even a psychologist a social worker so that that produced a pretty decent result and I really want to take a moment to thank the very many people who were here here and over in the auditorium organizing
074the flow of conducting the interviews and all of that and that was great work that they did they weren't being paid to do all these things but we certainly benefited from that greeting and attendance Task Force update we that group has already begun a series of community forums had two this week as a matter of fact I think we have one on Monday of this week and we had one at noon today and there'll be three more you can see there on the 22nd at Hackett Middle School on the 23rd at O'Neill school of excellence uh and then the final one would be held on May 31st here at Albany High so we always end with the health and wellness update and who are still having um people with dealing with the covet issue even
075though you think it's all gone it's not quite all gone but it's certainly not the impact that has been for a long period of time so same same Landing slide ending slide we've had all along reminding people of all that I think it could and should do to deal with that any questions thank you colleagues questions I'm gonna look over to my okay okay I'm gonna go down this side uh Miss creaching thank you for your report that's an excellent excellent news that you have on security and on health and everything else I just wanted to know tell me about do we have any um rough idea what the turnout has been or what just quantity wise comments we've received on grading the the two two sessions we had uh there were turned out both
076of them of 12 participants thank you uh Miss Savage did you oh I'm sorry I'm just trying to get a flow here okay this man so should I have all my comments in here should I start with go ahead and start with your one and okay um well my first comment was about the district job fair I think that's a great um to have that many employees to have that many potential employees come forward I think that's um fantastic and then I heard in an earlier report tonight that another one's happening on the 25th that and which which is great also because it's in the day and it's also in the later afternoon for parents so um so I think that's that's very fantastic keep going okay in terms of grading and attendance I I
077really appreciate how quickly um the task force you know they presented and then they followed up in already they've they've had two and there you have three other schedules they do an excellent job yeah I think that's really um it it speaks to everyone's buy-in in order to to get this right and address the concern so that's what I that's what I wanted to say about that so thank you Miss Wilson go ahead I'll stay topically on the grading in attendance but I do when we go back around want to ask a question about the Safety and Security also um as far as our process for the grading and attendance and thank you for the report and the updates and um status regarding that but just a question if we can look to institutionalize perhaps
078um Community inclusion in a participation at the Forefront of the process and I know that made this take and by no means do I mean that we have to do that every single time but um I think there probably would do well for us to maybe investigate how we can incorporate what strategies or practices are best practices for doing that and just from the onset because I know that was a request of ours and of course time was of the essence but and it takes a lot so maybe looking forward towards other opportunities how we can do that from a procedural standpoint I I understand that the um the process they went through was a real challenging one for that group uh and it in many ways it was really a professional kind of debate
079that they were having uh so it was I felt good that they worked their way through and I know not everybody went into that task force on the same page so it took them uh probably more time than certainly more time than we may have recalled I laid out a timeline and I had to make sure that we gave them more time because they were working really hard at that so and now we're at the point we're trying to engage with others and get some of the feedback even though we weren't able to do that built into the beginning and that is of course notwithstanding being overall pleased with the product they put forth and the due diligence that was applied and we're in the right place and going in the right direction thank you
080thank you and uh Miss Wilson to your point there I think um and I know I've spoken with Mr hawkrider about this as well that that's that's sort of a charge that we're also putting in his uh on his plate where we are able to engage Community um in more and more things and yeah more integrated and maybe in various means some some of which we already do but I think more systemic systematic approach to that process um and so um you know that that's come up a lot and we've spoken with him about that before and uh I think that I think he hears that clearly so um yeah so thank you um Miss Wilson did you want to go ahead to your safe issue thank you um thank you and thank you again
081for the Safety and Security report I do welcome this type of sporadic neutral third party review if there's other organization agencies that can do that because the for one they came back with very positive results but I think it just helps again in terms of due diligence um and just looking at the areas that they you know reviewed it's great that we have sort of that analysis and just thinking again Forward Thinking in terms of it's great that they're looking at how we have things in existence and if there's any sort of investment in the violence prevention and de-escalation reviews or analysis that anyone can do for us as well I think that would fall in line with the similar I agree and just to follow up on that again too so at the presentation
082to the common council members budget presentation we were asked a question towards the end by Common council president Corey Ellis um and I think I'm not sure if we're going to call exactly how we phrased it but um I think uh what our teachers are feeling you know like in terms of safety I mean a lot of it has to do with what happens in the world what happened I mean lots of things in other schools and you know on top of things that may happen here and so there's just a general I think kind of uneasiness um that all of us perhaps have admittedly and I think um his his point was you know hey we need to get together and do something about that and I I hope he didn't take offense but
083I was hoping he wasn't sort of saying the school district should do all of that basically I you know as we did on grading and attendance it's a we thing it's a conversation that involves schools uh part our school Partners our community members our families so you know I I want us to also maybe figure out um you know maybe under um you know uh as Mr hockrider comes on how we help support the that kind of conversation happening and be a part of it but not having the sole responsibility for that work because it does it all rest here but I I also do want to come in what we do do for all of our youngsters and trying to keep everyone safe and calm and feeling like this is a the place to
084be so um lots of work to be done on all these regards but we we can't do this alone and um so Dr shatour this is regarding the grading task force for those who those of you who haven't I would strongly recommend to go on the website and look at the web the videos it's very informative they've done a fantastic job of going through suggestions in terms of recommend recommendations toward changing certain things in the policy and a lot of things in the implementation of the policy and and actually done a better job in explaining why and how that would be linked I was a little bit disappointed about you know because you do have a chance for people to ask questions that there were a lot more questions that were asked of them but
085there were there was a teacher who had asked a question and there's a couple of community members that asked a question so you still have a chance right I mean so there are opportunities to visit that go through the webinar um and this will prompt new thoughts right and rather than this is this is our chance to fix it right the first time do it right the first time because things are going to change right and if your child or your your student or whatever is going to be effective it's better to understand now how they would be affected and help them along the way rather than come back later and say why did they do that right so we have an opportunity to be part of this this uh whole um the way we're
086doing things but kudos to them for and then and I spoke at the last minute we do have a July policy meeting so we will be looking at that too thank you for that I'm sorry okay any additional comments okay I would like to add a statement or two not not directly on this but um I really want to thank all of our community for the support that they gave to our budget and to the projects the capital projects associated with that it was really gratifying to see how strong the support was for them really critical times to finish this building so I really thank them and I also want to thank all the volunteers who helped with the voting process and a special thanks to Paula Tibbetts and Janae Jan or board clerk for
087all the many hours that they spent I they're right there well I watched them they couldn't walk by them all the time and they put unbelievable hours into making sure that that voting process went smoothly and I didn't hear very much in the way of negative comment about that so it's a tribute to them for all their work thank you absolutely agreed thank you okay I think that then brings us to uh public comment so excuse me one moment while I get my papers in order this is the time we set aside time to hear from members of the public the board always welcomes input from the community about the decisions we are making and we generally set up set aside up to 30 minutes of each meeting to hear from everyone and if there
088are more comments than can be accommodated in that time we do have options to extend the length of that comment period or to establish a second common period please also note that we accept comments in writing virtual live participation as well and by voicemail comments that are not in person must be made at least six hours prior to the meeting to give us time to collect and verify the information written comments must be limited to 400 words and voicemail comments to three minutes all commenters must excuse me all comments must include the commenter's name and place of residence we do not accept Anonymous comments and if you'd like to submit a voicemail or written comment for a future meeting please go to the section of the board webpage called addressing or entitled addressing the board
089information which is at Albany schools.org forward slash Boe and there you can learn about how to sign up for virtual live public comment and a couple more comments related to that we ask all commentators to keep in mind that information about individual students and specific District staff cannot be shared that is a violation of privacy and every student and every staff member deserve to know that comments about them will not be aired in public and for this reason also when board members read comments we will pass over or substitute alternative words if individual names are mentioned we will also eliminate those names and descriptions from recorded voicemails and one final comment please keep in mind that the public comment period is not always the best place to First Alert the district to a concern that
090you have we ask that you share concerns first with relevant staff such as a teacher or a principal if you feel the concern is not addressed adequately you may appeal to that person's supervisor up the chain of command if necessary to the superintendent decisions made by the superintendent may be appealed and I believe we have just one comment to read and Miss Ray Gail I do not think we had any public commenters is that correct okay thank you and Mr almanyawi would you please read the first uh comment sure the first letter is from Kimberly Rochelle States good evening my name is Kim Rochelle and I am an Albany parent and Resident I'd like to request information about how the district supports field trips Through The Years even prior to covid-19 field trips have often
091appeared to be a luxury rather than something uniformly experienced by the students while I recognize that the types of field trips that can be implemented depend upon support from faculty Administration parents and is subject to board approval but why does it appear that so much of this planning falls upon the shoulders of our already overburdened teachers to initiate and bring to fruition I have asked those in various schools what if any field trips will take place this year for students second graders will get to go to normanskill farm but beyond that I have heard of some schools going out of state others staying local but then there are others who have nothing planned at all does the district provide resources about what field trips are available in our area and Beyond does the district provide
092information about funding available to offset costs and go a step further does anyone help teachers complete the requests for the funding and field trip approval I know that many students remain academically behind so that this might seem frivolous and not important priority but I disagree going on field trips provides students with the lessons that learning happens outside of the classroom and school too it gives them a fond memory to commemorate the school year as board member Alman yaoi said during the meeting on 5-4 field trips are enriching exciting and students love to go on them so why isn't that being given priority at the district level who if anyone makes sure that a student gets to experience a field trip with his or her class my kids are fortunate and have experienced many of the
093locations locally and beyond that that would be feel trip worthy but how many of the students in Albany lack the ability and means to travel outside of the state let alone outside of Albany for some it's my understanding that there is funding and building budgets for field trips so I'm asking the district to make sure this is being used so our children learn that there is more to learn outside beyond the classroom thank you Kim Rochelle Mr almanyari thank you and what I will do because I also had a letter uh from this uh I think it's Rochelle or Russell um to the board directly so I will respond and let her know uh where who she can speak with in the district uh to find out um and get a more I think accurate
094picture of the field trips and the process and so forth so thank you for that um reading that and that was not uh intended I didn't even see your name in there when I read it I just kind of went oh okay so yeah so sorry about that alrighty so we will direct that thank you and that concludes our uh public comments there but again we do appreciate uh public comments from every you know Community member we find them valuable and we do respond um I will respond personally on behalf of the board uh when you submit an email or a letter or comment to us at Boe and um so we'll take care of that and we will sometimes have to direct you to staff who have the more precise knowledge and information so
095that you have a clear picture of everything so thank you again for that this now brings us to routine consent uh this part of our meeting we we call it routine consent for the purpose that we would choose approve routine matters for the district these include um items like contracts field trips Personnel matters and the like and each board member does spend time reviewing these items carefully but we voted them as a group with uh often not any discussion that allows us to make more time meeting time more efficient nonetheless each board member has the option to set aside any routine consent item in order to require a discussion and vote on that item and with that introduction I will now entertain a motion to adopt the routine consent agenda have a motion from Dr
096shatour second by e I'm sorry Dr Mr Alman yaoi are there any set-asides today yes Miss Savage I'm going to set aside number eight which is the donation from the First Unitarian universal Society okay Miss krachi I'd like to set aside number six and is the nomination number six Miss Wilson I'm sorry is that Ms Wilson or Miss man uh Miss man oh I'm sorry you have one too I thought okay so I'm going to set aside I think some of the numbers changed um I think it's Mohegan Sun okay is that number three is it now three yes okay okay um four five five yes mocha um I wanna set aside the First Unitarian um okay that's set aside number eight um uh that'll do yeah okay Miss Wilson I don't have a set
097aside I want a motion to add an item a motion to add an item yes a number 24. number two number 24 and that's some document that we have seen before and we're it's not a document oh it's just a comment a comment yeah I want to amend the agenda to add just an item to for discussion can you say with that okay okay yeah let me ask you can this be in business in the in the business put it with h put it with h well before H so H will become I maybe may I just ask you this I'm so sorry would you it doesn't actually under K other business items it could actually it could wait okay I won't just okay so we'll have it there so we can okay all right
098all right okay uh any others I think we got everyone all right so all in favor of adopting the routine consent agenda minus number three field trip through Mohegan Sun number five field trip Mass mocha number six nisba nomination and number eight donation from First Unitarian universal Society of Albany all in favor that is unanimous okay and the first uh may I have then a motion to I'm going to do these separately to adopt um item three field trip um I'll be high school ABK Mohegan Sun Miss Wilson seconded miss this man can you second that one yeah and then um any discussion and I think that one's yours so it probably lends itself to a larger discussion but I do want to all of mine have a field trips attached to them um I
099I really would like to um did we include Unitarian universalists we no we're just doing this one at a time yeah okay so for me Mohegan Sun that's the one we're on so um you know we have the the pleasure of um having Jonathan wafer as an employee in our CTE program um in the barbering uh school um now probably when I was around 24 about two years ago um he would cut my hair but um uh and during the time that um I uh first met Jonathan when he was cutting my hair he had a he was under the apprenticeship uh he was getting his hours um but but he went on and continues to have um one of uh the very prosperous black owned business uh true images and um and now he's
100teaching our children our students how to uh how to Barber which is a fantastic profession um and I know that he has uh gone above and beyond uh finding opportunities for um these uh youngsters to uh get a barbering experience and get their toes wet in that world and so I really certainly appreciate him and appreciate the fact that um uh he was able to find this Expo and um and offer it um to uh to four of our students um I know that uh there a question not not so much a question and it's a conversation for probably another time but I don't want to lose sight of it um if there were some way and it kind of unknowingly ties into the public comments which I didn't even realize but if um if
101there were a way that we could actually look at our policy around um the field trips and and who can access them and who needs to fundraise and you know who can get fabulous donations with Community Partners and and and so I think that would be great I mean I know that Mr wafer raised three grand in a very short period of time to assist with the cost of this trip I I know that we have a wonderful relationship with the First Unitarian Universalist society and they've done so much with the folks at Sheridan prep so you know I just kind of wanted to you know appreciate Mr Weber waiver but also at some point really have a discussion on on how um I guess I guess it's around Equity right how we can make
102opportunities accessible to um to all of our students so thanks I had the pleasure I don't think so uh actually no comments on that one if you don't mind I understand what you're saying but yeah I need the board to take action on that piece so I apologize it's okay okay this man you're all set with that I just want to start with on that item that item I'm all set with okay thank you all right all in favor of adopting item three and I'm sorry and that is unanimous thank you okay um item field trip item five the uh giffen Mass mocha field trip may I have a motion to adopt that one Mr Alman yawi seconded by Dr chatur is there any discussion I believe it was I love Mass mocha I'm I'm
103excited that um our uh our students from given can um and seriously though I'm excited that our students from Giffin can uh you know can experience that um I think it's the fourth and fifth grade if they can experience that trip so that's wonderful is there any other discussion yes Mr Roman Yahweh very interesting how our public comment today touched on uh field trips and we're approving two of them right now um both of them being out of state I think so um we very much uh I see it regularly we always support and approve field trips uh that are you know follow our policies and our you know the way that we go about doing things and uh getting approvals for them we always approve things that are done rightly um so I'm also
104very excited that our students are going to Mass MoCA it's a great institution uh hopefully they'll soak up a lot of that creativity thank you Miss Crazy thank you I wanted to say I'm also a big fan of mass mocha it's a really great place and it's an exciting place to take kids I noticed that this particular trip to Mass MoCA is for eight students who are on the student leadership team and I'm hoping that if this year's trip is successful next year we can bring more kids so that all the fourth and fifth graders or all of the kids of one particular grade can have this wonderful wonderful opportunity I hope I hope we can make that work in the future because it is really important for all kids from all schools to have
105that access to these opportunities thanks Dr shatur I just pulled up the field trip policy which is 45 31. the first sentence is city school district of Albany Board of Education believes that regular educational field trips are effective learning experiences that create beneficial educating educational opportunities for students and that extracurricular activities can be enhanced through trips away from school the board therefore supports and increases the use of trip within the total educational program so we the policy actually supports them and and you know but I still want people to look at it and see what can we do to make these policies even better things can always be improved but the board my policy supports these things thank you Miss Savage I just wanted to take a minute on this and the other field trips
106to just comment on my experience of the practice around field trips which has been overall a significant increase in equity especially leading up to cobit in particular leading up to covet I remember that we were very clearly offering every single fourth grader and every single fifth grader in this District an opportunity for a field trip that was provided by the district it was structured by the district that the teachers had access to through the district I do have a sense that we have some retrenchment and rebuilding to do a little bit at least around and also I'm not an elementary parent anymore so I may not be living the life but we certainly didn't do field trips during the height of covid and there is an opportunity always to rebuild but I just know that
107that policy was not just words on paper in my experience and I don't just mean for my children I mean for me as a board member that was something that was a significant Improvement I think during um I joined the board in January 2015 so I would say between January 2015 and March of 2020 our position I see lots of nodding over there in instructional core land um it was night and day because in January of 2015 it was very teacher driven and it was very funding driven and by March of 2020 it was clearly a district driven thing and it was very curricular I remember just being blown away by what toast was doing with a curricular field trip at every grade level tied directly to the curriculum and many of them were walking
108field trips or Albany space field trips so um I think it's great that the question has been raised I appreciate that we had the question raised I appreciate that we're continuing to talk about it and probably it's a good idea for us to revisit this as part of our annual or multi you know maybe biannual cycle of review as we review all of our programs to make sure that the what is current is fresh in all of our minds but I just wanted to to speak about my my my sense that we have we have not that we're perfect not that there's not always work to do but that we've come a long way and that the intent is there appreciate that um any other comment okay all in favor of adopting that is unanimous
109thank you moving on to um item six nisba nomination we have a motion to adopt that item Dr shatur second Mr omanyawi would you second that please thank you sir is there any discussion no sir Miss Karachi I'm sorry sure um I'm uncomfortable with this particular nomination because this person is a member of another local school district uh they were nominated for re-election in 2022 and at that time they were endorsed by a group called uh taking back our school boards who's uh who declare themselves a group that was anti-mandate and quote anti-critical race Theory I think the person never disassociated themselves from that endorsement and I'm really uncomfortable I think somebody that is anti-critical race theory is somebody that does not align with our Equity values I understand that we may not have another
110volunteer for this area 7 rep but if we work but I I still think this this person will represent uh seven different uh counties and they need uh nominations from just five school districts so I don't think we need to be one of those school districts if this person isn't in alignment with our values in equity Miss Savage I I'd like I'd like to make a motion to table this nomination so that I can get some more information um and we can consider this at a later date unless there's some urgency to doing this at this very instant because I'm not familiar with what remember crazy was just talking about and I'd like to know more so I if you would entertain a motion to table this I'd like to entertain a motion to table
111this as well Mr El mignawi seconded The Savage all in favor of tabling this motion is Miss Wilson does see your hand that is unanimous okay thank you and our last item may have a motion to adopt item eight donation from First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany motion Dr shatur second at Miss Wilson any discussion so I uh I set this aside because um many of you know this is my congregation and because we are a glutton for punishment my husband is now on the board of this institution so we have board meetings almost every single night of every single week and I plan to abstain on all fusa donations until such time as my husband gets off that board any other comments or discussion items okay oh I'm sorry a Miss man I was
112just going to say that um this congregation has done a lot particularly for Sheridan prep and this you know and they gave a very large donation that's going to allow the kindergarteners to go to New York State Museum first graders five rivers and fifth graders the Bronx Zoo so that's pretty um that's pretty special so thank you yes I'm just going to add in that um Albany you use sometimes they call themselves at or First Unitarian University Society of Albany shared in prep is the closest school to their congregation they're about three blocks from there they have adopted that congregation and do a significant amount of volunteer work as well as have raised money for the playground as well as have purchased housing for uh some of the unhoused families there so they are really
113doing amazing work I do very little with that group but they are really doing amazing work and I appreciated so much uh the principle of giving them a shout out when she gave her a board report last time and they are they're really trying hard to be good partners and to be serving at the direction of the principle and the way that it's the most useful to them and so um I appreciate you calling it out Ms man and I appreciate the work they're doing yes thank you both for that and Mr omanyawi I just want to lend my voice to that and say that Albany uu has been fantastic Community Partners with our school district um I see their work often in our routine consent and it's really good to know that we have
114such great Partners in them [Music] I think seeing no more um all of in favor of adopting this item I see six of seven hands any opposition seeing not oh okay one abstention is there miss Savage thank you you may raise your hand there thank you okay so that is um that passes that item passes so thank you very much colleagues for that okay now uh I think we have some action here and that is certification of the vote canvas and uh well I'm turning that over to make a motion the boat canvas oh we just need to take action on it I'm so sorry I don't know why I have this in my vision that in the past there were some comments about it I'm sorry maybe I am thank you very much okay
115all right folks so um I would like to entertain a motion to um act on the certificate or to certify the vote canvas and I see a motion by Mr almanyawi second by Dr shatur all in favor oh is there any discussion yes yeah seriously so I'm a Savage discussion um I just wanted to Second everything that came from um doctor mystery Eagles Mr gigos John that guy over there with the red tie um in his comments a bit and thank you Ms Ray Gale and in her very successful first vote and thanking Miss Tibbetts for her support in that um many school districts vote in a single polling place everybody goes to the high school and in our district we try and do everything we can to make our vote accessible to folks for
116whom transportation is a significant barrier and that makes it a lot of work and a lot of potential for confusion um because your polling place is different for your school district vote than it is for your primary and general vote and I would say this year there was very very few comments even though we had to do quite a lot extra because we had schools open during the polling day and therefore for security reasons we moved some things around to keep the voters separate and despite all of that extra extra and despite the fact that it was Ms Ray Gale's first vote the number of complaints that I received and trust me they have us on speed dial was was really very nominal so congratulations on an excellent vote and um thank you to the
117citizens of Albany for the extraordinary historical support of both schools and libraries this year 80 is amazing and I remember before I was on the board the board was hemming and hawing over like a three percent tax increase during a year that we had just a fiscal very difficult physical situation and I came to the board as a as a community member and I said trust the voters trust us this is a city that believes in schools and it's a city that believes in libraries and if you tell them that this is what you need and it's a rational a reasonable argument the voters will support it and I think that that is really demonstrated once again by the 80 pass rate of this um this very important budget thank you for that and Miss
118Wilson very similar sentiments as vice president Savage just thank you to miss Jenna Ray Gill for her efforts and obviously excellent execution of the board of election as well as congratulations to my colleagues vice president Savage as well as demos Alexander Mann and I do thank you for calling that out I kind of forgot I'm sorry been a busy week so congratulations to our incumbents here um so uh I also it just reminded me and I will pass this on to Miss jeteray Gale but I did receive just one uh call today and that and like you said it's been nominal and I think this was a gentleman who votes at hack uh excuse me hack it yes and I believe you know and I'm sure because partly because school was in session it was
119voted they were voting in a location that wasn't was smaller than they'd been used to but he said that in general every year he files this complaint or he registers a complaint that says there's not enough privacy for the voter in those spaces so I just wanted to bring that to your attention um and you know I I did keep his information on my phone should we want to follow up so but I think again all in all this has been just tremendous um and successful vote and again miss Jetta Ray Gail thank you okay um so any other comments I'm sorry Dr shatour you know it only takes about three minutes to get their vote and leave um and then this quiz beautiful parking every things are very accessible which you don't usually find
120in other places but it took a lot a lot of work to make it that way so thank you thank you to the ball Watchers thank you for making it such a seamless and smooth um event I mean I was dropping my daughter off to school stopped there three minutes in and out boom done when I look at the numbers of people who came out to vote it's a little disappointing still for me I mean 80 is great but I would love for more of our people to show up whatever you want to watch yes or no but show up and you know exercise that unique Freedom that we have in this country that you don't have elsewhere so I wish I wish more people were coming and when we during the covert years when
121we had the mailing words the numbers were higher so that is something for us to advocate for from the government relations team is to try and see if are we disenfranchising people making you know being able to afford them that opportunity would mean that the community has more say in what we do and how we do things which makes us all better right we're all part of the same family so I just want to say no I appreciate that um Miss Crazy uh thank you I wanted to Echo the voice of my colleagues in saying we'd like to thank the community for coming out to vote and we'd also like to thank Ms Jenna Regale Miss Tibbetts and everyone else who worked to make this such a successful election um and one of the things
122that was really um really excellent about it is we we decided due to the number of snow days and some other issues to hold school on this election day even though in the past we have not and we've certainly I think as a board decided that on general election day in November we really aren't comfortable holding school because and having polling places but one of the things um my polling place is all is one of Albany schools I voted Ash it was a little different this year I voted in the gym rather than in the front hall and of course you know a little bit of a change takes getting used to but there were really clearly marked signs in the front door saying go to the gym though we're clearly marked signs in the
123gym so it wasn't just in the past it was go in you have access to the whole Hall you could just kind of have access to the whole school and I know at Ash and my understanding is that some of the other schools as well there was really thought put into security and only allowing voters access to controlled spaces not the building as a whole because we as a district and as a board really take that security seriously uh we do have if we're having members of the public in to vote we make sure that they have limited access to the schools and I'd also like to remind the community that general elections you know general elections we have tens of thousands of people voting uh these elections the polling places might have 30 40
124people total it's not a vast number of people in and out all day long so thank you very much and Miss Savage has a comment there go ahead I'm going to take this opportunity to do my government relations report early because it ties in right here so the government relations team I believe is meeting on Monday we do need to nail down a time Monday morning um whatever time you put on the calendar is the time we'll do that's Mr lesko quietly saying the back what time are we doing um but one of the um one of the things we've experienced as one of you guys just said is that the year that we did mail-in voting is required by the state we got 11 000 votes that's more votes than we've ever had typically
125before the tax cap we were around 6 000 typically since the tax cap we've been around 3 000 as Dr shashur said we were down to almost 2 000 now there's you know that's not great we really do want more people to come out and vote and when we had mail-in voting we had 11 000 people so um Ms Wilson had uh suggested that we consider a resolution that we will discuss at government relations to um asking is but a Lobby for early voting for school districts just like we have for General and primary that would be consistent with what we already do so we'll be talking about that and then we can also raise probably in a separate resolution the concept of mail-in voting but since we don't have mail-in voting in New York
126state for regular elections the chances that they would approve that for school districts is pretty limited but I think we will see us advocating for that um within nisba and perhaps through the big five so sorry to insert my government relations report into the middle of consent item but it seemed like an appropriate time to do it okay that's very good um I also just wanted to a quick shout out we did have a new polling site as we noted many times and that was the New Hope Church on Second Avenue I believe and I believe everything went smoothly and well there and so we want to thank them for allowing us to use their space for uh for the vote so thank you Miss Regal I think again Kudos appreciate you very much and
127your your colleagues okay so what I need to do now is uh to call the vote all in favor of certifying the vote canvas that is unanimous thank you and I believe that covers all of our routine consent items tonight up next I believe is a discussion uh magnet Lottery magnet program update Dr Cecily Wilson Turner thank you okay good evening Board of Education thank you for allowing me to present our annual magnet and pre-kindergarten Lottery update I am pleased to say not much has changed we've established our protocols and so I just have a few slides for you this evening our magnet and Lottery programs are clearly aligned with our district goals as they allow us to enhance the delivery of instruction through theme-based instructional models and to empower our families to choose instructional
128models that meet their needs our goal for our magnet program has not changed it is about providing Equitable access to our pre-kindergarten programs where we have limited seats and providing Equitable access to our families to our theme-based programs that exist now in four of our building spaces our budget has remained fairly consistent slight increases originally our contract when I started this work was eleven thousand dollars for our Lottery contractor it is now thirteen thousand dollars our supplies materials four thousand dollars and we have a dedicated Administrative Assistant um who supports the lottery um half time so as I said no procedural changes this year we've continued with some very effective practices that we've developed over time our application window combined for pre-kindergarten and magnet has been a significant Improvement allowing families a longer window of
129time to apply and returning to a later lottery date in April as opposed to March and still setting us up for successful registration for kindergarten covet pushed us faster we were going there but our electronic application and registration process has significantly taken off and we've been able to really help families execute that system I always try to give credit where credit is due and that comes completely from you know that fabulous office of data accountability and Technology Innovation we dream it and they build it and so robocalls was something we started very early on to really help families remember that they have to register for the seat after they've been awarded the seat so the bulk of my time will be spent just updating you on our numbers for this year you have a school
130board update that indicates the trends over the last three years our seats were 666 seats between magnet and free kindergarten that were available this year we held our Lottery on April 19th 2023 we were able to award 424 seats and 242 seats remain vacant there was a slight increase in applications and awarded seats over the last year about 20. we had 98 families assigned their second through fourth choice choice and remain in the waiting pool for their first choice we have eight printed pre-kindergarten students who were not awarded a seat and we have 38 magnet students who were not awarded to see and remember um the only reason you would be not awarded a seat is if you did not have a second or third or fourth choice available and are just holding out for
131your first choice seat in a waiting pool or a waiting list we had less available seats this year in pre-kindergarten but more in magnet our applications increase slightly a larger percentage of seats were awarded at a larger number and percentage of seats were awarded at pre-kindergarten and our Magnet School awards seats remain similar slight increase in the number of vacant seats but this percentage was the same as last year our seat availability availability fluctuates as you are well know based on our current enrollment we can only offer seats that are currently sitting vacant or as we're adding a brand new classroom in pre-k or kindergarten this last side I want to talk about a minute because this is where we take a look at our demographics I used to present you our district demographics and
132kind of show you how closely each school mirrors those demographics and so we have that understanding of how representative we know that Ash is our most representative School in the district they look most like the city of Albany they look most like Albany High School in terms of how the demographic breaks down we know that toast tends to have more of our Asian families we know do a language program by virtue of being do a language for Spanish as most of our Spanish-speaking families families are allowed to rank up to four choices for their child our first choice application demographic continues to mirror the seats awarded however students assign their second fourth through fourth choice seats um influence the demographics of the awarded seats so it's never going to be a straight correlation between who
133applies and who actually receives a seat an example of this is Ash at 35 First Choice applicants but 19 additional seats were awarded from second through four of choice families resulting in slight differences in the application versus awarded demographics conversely Montessori and dual language program could only award less seats than applicants so their demographics vary slightly from First Choice applicants remember also that we have neighborhood and sibling preference that influence what students are awarded to see and it impacts the demographics with limited seats available as you'll see that fluctuation and the two schools I mentioned last and finally our next steps remain I'm so excited so simple we do brief our Lottery each year to see if there are any shifts or adjustments that we need to make we really work very closely with the
134Communications office to set up our timeline and to ensure that we're able to get information out to our families in a timely manner around when the application window is when our open house events are so they are able to receive more information and we try to release our available seats early in February so families are able to make informed decisions and that is all I have for you this evening thank you the colleagues questions for Dr Wilson Turner um Miss creachy hi thank you for the report it's very informative and it's just a pleasure to know that things are going smoothly and that families are interested in enrolling our in our programs I had a quick question just regarding the numbers of the Dual language program because I know the Dual language program we're so
135excited that the Dual language program has expanded to two sections of pre-K and K but the numbers um the numbers here look like numbers associated with only one section so I was wondering if it was we don't have enough applicants yet to support two sections or something else thank you for pointing that out this slide should say Elementary Magnet Lottery because if I was to put the Pre-K numbers on here this slide would go on for four pages so in the in the school board update you'll find an attachment of the actual breakdown of the um Pre-K because we separate out the Pre-K numbers from the magnet numbers so this just reflects the students in kindergarten through first grade on the English side and kindergarten through fifth grade on the Spanish side and so there
136weren't this is actually a really good number because there weren't very many seats available meaning those classroom seats are very close to being full our Pre-K enrollment I'm going off top of my head I believe we had 19 families um for a Pre-K coming into this year so we are holding on adding our second Pre-K until we are certain that we'd be able to successfully full two but we have the position in the budget to make that happen and we're also expanding to our second grade to go too deep this year as well as our students move up through that process so our our enrollment has sustained and the program continues to grow under the leadership of principal staff thank you so what I'm hearing is that people should be encouraging all their friends and
137family with with three and four-year-olds to saying guess what this wonderful program is available and there are still spaces back now thank you Miss Savage I just want to thank you as I do every year for the exceptional improvements in our Lottery program for magnet is through your particular hard work and exceptional attention to detail and guidance of your staff that this has happened it's very well noted that I never get calls anymore saying my kid is a sibling and how is it possible that they didn't get a seat which used to happen every single year and we have completely addressed the problem it's just gone um and so we between the attention to detail the personal attention and person-to-person connection of the administrator who is Administrative Assistant who works on this and the improvements
138to the digital applications the process is smooth and easy and much less poem for error and also I am so pleased and proud that we are consist with FERPA and our intentions around privacy and the way that we now let people know instead of us getting photographs of the list within 24 hours of the list going up which was never really a great thing and is now so far back in our history we can hardly hardly remember that that is in fact how we did it so another real Improvement in the process so thank you very very much uh thank you for that and um colleagues in case you missed it uh please go back to the May 10th sbu where you'll find those breakdowns that Dr Cecily Wilson Turner was referring to Dr chatur
139I just want to say you know when we were talking about the online registration they brought back memories from Rico and but I was helping this gentleman register uh it's been it had been a few years since I had registered my own kid it was hard you know in spite of having two kids in the district being on the board at that time um so when I see the the online applications that has happened since amazing seamless Works uh and if you if you don't want to do it in English a different language just contact numbers exactly who to go to and they'll help you with it so thank you to you and Mr Baker because this is like a dream come true thank you and thank you for acknowledging the work like the the
140work that kala kufta does or excuse me kylo range from does is significant in this area a lot of conversations with families to make sure they understand the process their questions can be answered so welcome through an application um in both written ecala support Central registration when families have a hard time making it through the registration piece of it and so it is a new process but we've really tried to support families through that so thank you thank you other comments on it and also just a special shout out to miss kala as well because um I saw her for the first time in a while today so and I realized too she was part of the uh voting team and so just kudos to her for all that work I know this Pre-K stuff
141is Alone um you know a big deal but I really thank her for coming out and being supportive so thank you yeah so Kyle except brings us now I think thank you Dr Wilson Turner that brings us now to board committee reports and um I'll start with government relations I did my report we're meeting on Monday we're going to talk about resolution potential resolutions if anyone on cabinet or anyone in the district has an idea about something that could be changed at the state level to make it more Equitable and successful for high Needs school districts like Albany the way that lobbying happens is by groups like The New York State School boards Association and the big five working for those changes and the way that happens is by members of those organizations bringing ideas
142to them and the way that happens is through this process called resolutions and so I first of all congratulate my colleague chitter for taking a seat on the nisba resolutions committee for the next three years giving us three more years of a window into the resolutions committee and invite anyone who has thoughts about changes that should be made at the state level to send those to email that you can send them to Boe at and try and get them to us relatively soon because even though it seems like next year's legislative cycle is a long way away because this one's not even finished that's how long it takes to get it through the process we will be discussing these resolutions next week very good um oh did you say Miss Wilson and you had something
143I'm sorry oh okay okay yeah no I thought she was saying something this crazy audit committee uh thank you the audit committee met this past Monday we discussed our uh we discussed Mr karis's uh responses on behalf of the district to the internal audit report um and we'll have we'll have those soon he's going to work with the additional with new staff at the business office which we're really excited that we've been able to recruit some excellent new staff and also work with some other players to get training in place for us to make some changes to remedy some of some of the issues that were found so really happy to hear about that great meeting great thank you um let's see in terms of the facilities committee um would we meet regularly and we
144will have another meeting on June 6th and actually the facilities committee um would like to or excuse me the committee is recommending that um June 15th our board meeting on June 15th be a time where we'll have a capital project update and that'll be pretty important because as you know we have had some uh phase for bids and so forth come in and so we want to get you um you know in the loop on what's happening there as we go into the final phases of uh of the high school so let's see did I forget a committee yes sir doctor policy well if you notice we didn't have policy in the agenda today and that's because policy hasn't met policy is going to be very busy in the upcoming weeks we have a policy
145meeting next week on 20 25th and that is to discuss the code of conduct which along when you discuss code of conduct there's a bunch of other policies that go hand in hand with it so it's going to be a long meeting but a very important one we do this annually and update things to fix inequities as we see them and then try to make things better for our students staff so stay tuned for that one and then we have another one followed by that on June 5th so and I also wanted to say something thank you for the Elizabeth thing and um I've been part of uh you know School Board partners and have been um selected to the advanced cohort and we'll be going to a workshop this weekend which will involve some
146of the policy things um and and I did a workshop through leaders in equity education on writing policy and looking at policy and how to look at things with student not comes in mind so you know trying to make our work ourselves better so we can do the work better for uh you know everything we everybody who serve so stay tuned thank you and so the school board Partners is this uh week right and then yes and then um I know I can't do that one and then there's one coming up in July and I think maybe a couple of people are going to that one as well um so just good work work fellows and um appreciate that and so I think that brings us to uh other business and I know Miss Wilson
147had a new business item oh you took care of it okay oh okay well thank you um yes Miss Savage all right this is actually really an extension my government relations report but I realized I forgot to say something so I'm throwing it into other business um for a different reason having anything to do with school district work I was on the phone with Assembly women fahey's office today and her legislative director person brought up to me the status of our missing child safety zones um regulations which those of you know we worked really hard to get child safeties on law passed but we're waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting for the Department of Transportation to provide some regulations so that we can then adopt new child safety zones and then put it before the voters
148who will then have to pass it as a referendum before we can actually get more kids on buses so I just want to report that assembly woman fahey's office is extremely frustrated about the long delay and is working hard on our behalf to try and get us those regulations and I will be continuing to work with them to try and get I was expecting them to come out sort of both but we were told during the budget and go Association process that they would be coming soon which is also what assembly one fahey's office was told soon I thought soon might mean shortly after the budget was adopted but so far nothing so we're working on it but I was pleased that he brought that up to me and I just thought everyone should know
149that thank you for that yes Miss Crazy uh thank you I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention something that I became aware of today which is there is a contest being put on by the Albany County Legislature in coordination with uh Albany County League of Women Voters it's a contest that's open to all students public private Charter and homeschooled in Albany County to design an I voted sticker that will be distributed to everyone who votes on the next election day and this is an opportunity for a student to have enormous uh impact I don't know if anyone remembers last year the winner in Ulster County went viral and was interviewed on National media for their really striking design so the contest opens today and students May submit their entries either electronically or by dropping
150them off in person at the Albany County office building on State Street if you go to www.albanycounty.com you can find more information thank thank you Miss Gracie and and I see that our staff is aware and all this information and is likely to distribute that yes yes absolutely so thank you for for bringing that up any other new business yes Mr elnayawi it's really good to see a lot of cabinet here today and and I'll just add I like this room so much better just hint hint the problem is the students use this room so we can't just leave it like this the way we can it it's very nice for special occasions don't you think we'll just have to find more special occasions you know um all right I do not see any other
151hands for other business and with that may I get a motion to adjourn this crazy seconded by Miss Wilson all in favor that is unanimous and good night Community thank you very much